Dias is not for singing 'bhajans' but to attack opposition: Yogi on EC notice

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 3 (ANI): Do we go to the dais to sing devotional songs? We go there to defeat the opposition party and hit out at them, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday.

"Bhajan karne ke liye jaate hai kya manch pe? Ukhad dene ke liye aur apne virodhi ko gherne ke liye manch pe jate hain," Adityanath told Smita Prakash ANI.

Adityanath was referring to the show cause notice issued to him by the Election Commission (EC) over his recent controversial remarks while campaigning for Lok Sabha elections.

"Our work is to highlight the opposition's weakness in front of the people. We do not mind it even when Congress or Samajwadi Party (SP) 'abuse' us during their election campaigning. If we revert, why are we called wrong?," Adityanath told ANI while sharpening his attack on the opposition.

The EC had on May 2 served a notice to the UP Chief Minister over his 'Babar ki aulad' remark made during a rally in Sambhal on April 19.

Yogi claimed how he once asked SP's Sambhal candidate Shafiqur Rahman about his lineage, to which Rehman said he was "Babar ki aulad".

"The speaker had also condemned it during that time. To take an action on the conversation that had happened between two people does not come under the purview of the Election Commission. If I do not quote such a thing in my election rallies, then what else do I do?" he further stated.

The "Babar ki aulad" comment stirred controversy as it came in his first rally after the poll body barred him from campaigning for 72 hours for allegedly making comments amounting to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct.