Hyderabad: Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath on Sunday took a swipe at Muslims, stating that only “those who say ‘Abba Jaan’” were “digesting” rations in the state. His communal tone against the Muslim community was made at a rally in Kushinagar.
Addressing a meeting ahead of he upcoming Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections, Adityanath stated that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership there is no place for appeasement politics. Critics have earlier pointed out that by ‘appeasement politics’ Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) refers to policies that empower or benefit the Muslim community.
The saffron leader went on to allege that Muslims have been taking rations allotted for the people of Kushinagar in general. While hate-spewing politicians refrain from using the word Muslim directly because of hate-speech laws, right-wing leaders like Adityanath have often used dog-whistle words like ‘Abba Jaan kehne waale’, ‘invaders’, ‘Pakistani’, ‘Talibani’, ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’, ‘atankwadi (terrorists)’, ‘termites’, ‘Babar ki aulaad (descendants of Emperor Babur)’, etc.”
Yogi Adityanath has also in the past made many other similar anti-Muslim statements. Opposition parties have alleged that the BJP is trying to create an environment of communal hate ahead of U.P elections, as they have tried to do before every major election.