Yogi’s remarks against halal products aimed at Bihar polls: UP Congress chief

Meanwhile, Congress state president Ajay Rai criticised the CM’s remarks on “political Islam” and that “halal certification funds being misused for terrorism, love-jihad and conversion, saying, “The statements were made keeping the Bihar elections in mind. They should explain how such fundings were happening when they have government at the Centre for 11 years and in UP since 2017.”

The BJP government should instead share data on employment creation and investments made in the state against the MoUs signed, he added.

In his address, the CM added, “Our ancestors fought against British and French colonialism, but they waged a battle against ‘political Islam’ as well. We still remember great warriors like Maharana Sanga, Maharana Pratap, Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji Maharaj for [this]. We gave them the honour of the nation’s heroes for the battle they fought.”

“Political Islam’ is the same thing which aims to change the demography by dividing the nation. To alert people about this, the RSS is spearheading a campaign to bring society together, which is praiseworthy,” he said.

Recalling a recent police operation that unearthed a “religious conversion” racket run by one Chhangur Baba alias Jalaluddin in Balrampur district, he said, “Our team was keeping a watch on his activities for the last three years and I used to get an update on the intelligence collection every month… I had alerted the team to lay [their] hands [on him] when strong evidence is collected so that effective action is taken.”

However, the CM added, he escaped six months ago. He said he shouted at the team that the mission was failing. “Jalaluddin was finally arrested. He was involved in anti-social activities…,” Adityanath said.

He also claimed Jalaluddin was getting funds through halal certification. “I have banned the sale and purchase of items with such certification. Whenever you go purchasing, watch carefully that you are not buying item with this certification. All the money collected through this would go into such conspiracies. Many such ‘Chhangur Babas’ are still active in areas around us,” he alleged.