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New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath mentioned Pakistan eight times in 48 seconds during a campaign rally for the BJP in west Delhi Monday.

Amid chants of Jai Shri Ram, Adityanath accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of speaking “Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s language” over the scrapping of Article 370, a move that withdrew the special status given to Jammu & Kashmir.

“Aapne dekha hoga kaise inn logon ki saant-ghaant hai… Kashmir mein 370 ke mudde par, Arvind Kejriwal Imran Khan ke swar mein swar milate the na… Aapne suna hoga uss dauran (You must have seen their partnership on 370… Arvind Kejriwal used to speak in the same voice as Imran Khan on Article 370. You must have heard it).”

“Ab jab Delhi mein chunav ho rahein hai toh Arvind Kejriwal ke paksh mai kaun bayaan de raha hai? Pakistan ke mantri (Now when elections are taking place in Delhi, who is speaking in favour of Arvind Kejriwal? It is the ministers of Pakistan),” he said, referring to Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry’s tweet exhorting Indians to defeat PM Narendra Modi.

In his tweet, Hussain had said Modi was “under pressure” because of the upcoming Delhi elections. The post drew a sharp rebuke from Kejriwal, who has also backed the central government’s decision to scrap Article 370.

Also Read: What’s inside UP Police’s intel reports on Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini

Attack on Shaheen Bagh continues

Like at the two rallies he addressed Sunday, Adityanath kept up his attack on the Shaheen Bagh protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying it was merely an excuse for people to vent their anger against the scrapping of Article 370 and the Supreme Court’s go-ahead for the construction of a Ram Mandir at the disputed Ayodhya site.

The protest at Shaheen Bagh, he said, has disrupted traffic across the capital. A guest with an appointment to meet him at 9.30 am could only reach at 11, Adityanath added. “He told me he had left as early as 7 am but got stuck because of the traffic in Shaheen Bagh,” he said.

The UP CM accused Kejriwal of not having faith in the people of Delhi, “which is why he’s getting Pakistan ministers to speak in his favour”.

“Kya Bharat ke andar janta kisko vote de ye Pakistan tey karega? (Will Pakistan decide who Indians should vote for),” he said at the Vikaspuri rally, one of four planned in Delhi for Monday. “If voting for Kejriwal will make Pakistan happy, should it be done?”

Adityanath said Pakistan ministers were “speaking in Kejriwal’s favour as they are aware he is feeding ‘biryani’ to protesters at Shaheen Bagh”.

He accused Kejriwal of siding with people who raised “anti-national” slogans in JNU and Jamia.

“Slogans were raised in Jamia and JNU and they were such dangerous slogans like ‘Afzal hum sharminda hai’. He is the same Afzal [Guru] who masterminded the Parliament attack,” Adityanath added.

“Kejriwal sympathises with those who raise slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukde honge,” he said. “Kejriwal is sympathetic towards the attackers of Pulwama. He asked the Army and the nation for proof of the surgical strike. This man is playing with the country,” he added, concluding his speech by chanting “Jai Shri Ram”.

Also Read: Why 100 UP BJP MLAs are upset with Yogi, and questioning his ‘zero-tolerance’ on corruption

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