Yogi Adityanath at a rally in Lucknow despite being refused permission by local administration.
A police case has been filed against
Yogi Adityanath and other senior leaders of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh for defying the state government to hold a rally in Lucknow on Wednesday evening.
Adityanath, the 42-year-old star campaigner for his party in India's largest state, said that by holding the rally despite being refused permission by local officials, he was trying
"to fight against the UP government's dictatorship and undemocratic ways."
(BJP Star Campaigner Yogi Adityanath Defies Ban on Rally, Police Files Case)The BJP's public meeting had been filmed and will be scrutinized by the Election Commission to determine what action should be taken next. Local administration officials say that they revoked permission for Adityanath's rally after discovering that the ruling Samajwadi Party was scheduled to hold its own rally nearby; they say they were worried about clashes between workers of the two parties.
Adityanath was asked earlier this week by the Election Commission to explain alleged hate remarks made in the campaign for Saturday's by-elections for nine assembly seats and one parliamentary constituency. He has questioned the authenticity of a video that appeared online a few weeks ago that shows him making hate remarks against Muslims.
In the national election in May, the BJP won 71 of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Critics claim the outstanding result was accomplished by Amit Shah through a strategy pivoted on stirring communal tensions for electoral advantage. Mr Shah, a top aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now the BJP president, has denied those charges.
Yesterday, he was charge-sheeted by the UP police for allegedly making a hate speech ahead of the national elections in Muzaffarnagar, which was seared by deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in September.
In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister called for an end to communal violence.
But ahead of the by-elections, local BJP leaders have been accused of trying to polarize voters by focusing on forced conversions and "love jihad" - what they describe as an Islamist strategy to convert Hindu women through seduction, marriage and money.