BJP chief Rajnath Singh says he is not aware of plans to felicitate the controversial leaders. (File pic)
On Thursday, the BJP plans to publicly pay tribute to two leaders from Uttar Pradesh who have been charged with fuelling September's riots in Muzaffarnagar in which at least 60 people were killed.
Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana are "special invitees" at a rally in Agra that will be addressed by their party's candidate for prime minister,
Narendra Modi.
Both men spent over a month in jail after the police said they had delivered incendiary speeches which instigated Hindu-Muslim violence, forcing 40,000 people to abandon their homes and move into refugee camps.
(Muzaffarnagar riots: BJP MLAs Sangeet Som, Suresh Rana get relief from Advisory Board)At the Agra gathering, they will be treated like heroes. In addition to being garlanded, they will share the stage with Mr Modi, said state leaders of the BJP. "We will welcome them," said Laxmikant Bajpai, the BJP's state unit president.
BJP president Rajnath Singh said he was unaware of the Guest of Honour status for the two controversial leaders.
One of them, Suresh Rana, said he will show up with a band of supporters. "The BJP has been wrongly accused of the riots," he said.
The Congress and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav have accused the BJP of instigating the Muzaffarnagar riots to polarise the state along religious lines before general elections next year.
"They want to disrupt the brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims," said Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party, which governs Uttar Pradesh. "This is their culture," he said.
The BJP has denied the charges and has accused Mr Yadav's government of enforcing policies tilted heavily in favour of Muslims, ingesting a sense of insecurity among Hindus in the region.