In a television interview in the run-up to the UP Assembly elections, Yogi Adityanath defended changing the names of places with Muslim names to those with Hindu names. Gorakhpur’s Miyan Bazaar was changed to Maya Bazaar, Ali Nagar to Arya Nagar, Urdu Bazaar to Hindi Bazaar, and so on.

It’s not just Adityanath’s stance on the nomenclature of places, however, that has given him an image of being ‘unfriendly’ towards minority communities. It’s what the five-time MP has said in the past. In September 2014, Adityanath had told a rally in Noida: