FILE photo: Yogi Adityanath, BJP MP from Gorakhpur
Yogi Adityanath, the BJP's controversial star campaigner in Uttar Pradesh, had to cancel a rally in Lucknow this evening after the state government refused him permission. Officials say they were worried about a clash between workers from the BJP and the ruling Samajwadi Party, which was scheduled to hold its own rally nearby at the same time.
Adityanath, 42, was
asked yesterday by the Election Commission to explain alleged hate remarks made to voters ahead of Saturday's by-elections to nine assembly seats and one parliamentary constituency. In the national election in May, the BJP swept the state, landing 71 of the 80 parliamentary seats.
That astounding result, according to critics, was accomplished by the BJP's 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.
In September last year, nearly 60 people were killed and 40,000 displaced after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in western Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, just a four-hour drive from Delhi. Investigations found politicians across parties, including some from the BJP, had fuelled the violence with incendiary speeches.
Adityanath, a senior priest, has suggested that a recent undated video that appeared online and shows him making hate remarks against Muslims may have been doctored.
(Also Read: No Place for Others in Areas with Over 40% Muslim Population, Says Yogi Adityanath)Mr Modi largely avoided the topic of religion during his campaign; in his Independence Day speech, he called for an end to communal violence, which he said was stunting growth.
But ahead of the by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, local BJP leaders have been trying to polarise voters through a campaign that alleges
"love jihad" - a term used by right-wing groups for what they describe as an Islamist strategy to convert Hindu women through seduction, marriage and money.
The state BJP has also been referring to forced conversions as a campaign issue.