Don't blame 'love jihad' for UP loss: Giriraj Singh

While top BJP leaders have refrained from commenting on the party's performance in Uttar Pradesh by-polls yet, state party leader Giriraj Singh Thursday said it is wrong to blame the 'love jihad' theory for it.

"Yoginath-ji (Yogi Adityanath) alone can't be responsible for Uttar Pradesh debacle. Many go down in other states by changing stance and allegedly chanting 'secular, secular'," Giriraj Singh, who was in the thick of controversy for his threat to send critics of Narendra Modi to Pakistan, said Thursday in a tweet.

"We are bleeding to get secular tag, our job to make people aware of social threat and 'love jihad' is one of them, winning or losing is secondary," he said.

"Love jihad" is a term used by Hindu hardliners for Muslim youth marrying Hindu girls with the intention of converting them to Islam.

The BJP won only three of the 11 assembly seats which went to polls in Uttar Pradesh while the Samajwadi Party (SP) captured eight. The party lost three of the four seats to the Congress in Rajasthan, and three of the nine again to the Congress in Gujarat.

Voices from outside as well as inside the party have blamed the loss at bypolls on "love jihad" and speeches like those made by Yogi Adityanath.