Yogi said that Akbar was a "Turg who couldn't be trusted." (Photo: Reuters/Jitendra Prakash)

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath yesterday said that only Mewar ruler Maharana Pratap was great and not Mughal emperor Akbar.

He praised Maharana Pratap for winning his forts back from Akbar. The CM was addressing an RSS gathering on the occasion of Mewar kings birthday during which a special edition of magazine Avadh Prahri was also released.

"Akbar's only condition for Pratap was to accept him as 'badshah' following which he will not interfere in Mewar king's state.But Maharana Pratap refused to accept him as his king because he was a Turk who couldn't be trusted," he said.

Also read: Jinnah cannot be "eulogised" in India, says Yogi Adityanath

Yogi said that Maharana Pratap is still remembered today even after 500 years because fought for his pride and refused to bend his knees in front of a foreigner. Friendship cannot come at the cost of self-respect,'' Yogi said.

The ministers speech was applauded amid chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

Watch his full speech here:

Also read: How Hindutva brigade has posed problems galore for Yogi

Last year, Yogi's MLA Sangeet Som had also made a similar statement and termed Mughal emperors Babur, Akbar and Aurangzeb "traitors". He had said that their names should be removed from the pages of history.

WATCH | My government has zero tolerance towards corruption, UP CM says