Adityanath courted controversy recently after video footage showed him daring people behind what the party calls ‘Love jihad’. He allegedly threatened to convert 100 Muslim girls to Hindusim for each Hindu converted to Islam.
The 42-year-old MP was recently locked in a battle of words with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha during a debate.
He has often accused the SP and the Congress of appeasing the Muslim community for electoral gains.
He is one of the three star campaigners for the 11 state assembly and one parliamentary seat which go to by-polls 13 September.
The other two campaigners named by the BJP’s central election committee are union minister Kalraj Mishra and state president Laxmikant Bajpayi.
A recent BJP meeting in UP held to decide its political strategy, passed a resolution that did not use the term “love jihad” but amply alluded to the party’s “concern” over what it calls the baiting of Hindu women by Muslim men into love and marriage to force them into religious conversion.
The BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain today defended the party’s decision to field Yogi Adityanath in the UP campaign. “He is an experienced, trustworthy leader. The BJP has never been associated with communalism nor will it be. These are only false accusations,” he said.
The opposition parties allege that Adityanath’s appointment was yet another indication that the BJP was trying to polarize the by-polls on religious lines.
The 42-year-old MP was recently locked in a battle of words with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha during a debate.
He has often accused the SP and the Congress of appeasing the Muslim community for electoral gains.
He is one of the three star campaigners for the 11 state assembly and one parliamentary seat which go to by-polls 13 September.
The other two campaigners named by the BJP’s central election committee are union minister Kalraj Mishra and state president Laxmikant Bajpayi.
A recent BJP meeting in UP held to decide its political strategy, passed a resolution that did not use the term “love jihad” but amply alluded to the party’s “concern” over what it calls the baiting of Hindu women by Muslim men into love and marriage to force them into religious conversion.
The BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain today defended the party’s decision to field Yogi Adityanath in the UP campaign. “He is an experienced, trustworthy leader. The BJP has never been associated with communalism nor will it be. These are only false accusations,” he said.
The opposition parties allege that Adityanath’s appointment was yet another indication that the BJP was trying to polarize the by-polls on religious lines.