Lucknow, Aug 17: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has kicked up a huge storm by making a reference to offering 'namaz' (prayers) on the roads and comparing it with 'Kanwar Yatra' (carrying of pitchers filled with Ganga waters for offering at Shiva temples) and 'Janmashtami' celebrations inside police stations.
''If I cannot stop offering of namaz on the roads then I have no right to ban playing of loud music during Kanwar yatra and Janmashtami celebrations inside the police stations,'' Adityanath said while speaking at a function here on Thursday evening.
The previous Akhilesh Yadav government had imposed a ban on celebrating 'Janmashtami' inside the police stations and also on playing loud music during the 'Kanwar yatras'.
''Is it a funeral procession?...I asked the officials when I was told that playing loud music was banned during Kanwar Yatra,'' the chief minister said.
He said he told the officials that if it was the case then the use of loudspeakers should be banned everywhere, apparently referring to the 'azan' (call before the prayers) from the mosques.
Adityanath, who was known for toeing 'hardline Hindutva', said those, the people were branded communal if they uttered 'garva se kaho hum Hindu hain' (say with pride that we are Hindus).
He also defended his government's decision to ban ''illegal'' slaughterhouses in the state saying that it had been done following the orders from National Green Tribunal and Supreme Court.
Apparently upset with the media coverage of the recent tragedy in Gorakhpur Medical College, the chief minister also attacked the media and asked it to do ''self-introspection''.
Adityanath's remarks drew sharp criticism from the Muslim clerics and the opposition parties.
''It is wrong to make comparisons between practices in different religions.....it will only create division between the people,'' said a senior Muslim cleric here on Thursday.
Samajwadi Party (SP) also decried the remarks and termed them as a ''ploy to divert attention'' from the government's failures on the law and order and other fronts.
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