India / As a Yogi, I will not go for Ayodhya mosque inauguration: UP CM

The New Indian Express : Aug 07, 2020, 01:36 PM
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that if invited for the inauguration of the mosque in Ayodhya, set to be built as part of the Supreme Court’s order last year, he will not go there “as a Yogi” and “as a Hindu”, and that he knows no one will invite him.

He also said that “as a Chief Minister” he has no problems with any religion, and that political leaders who attend roza or iftaar, wearing skull caps, are only posturing as secular – “yeh secularism nehin hai (that is not secularism), and the public realises that.

Speaking to ABP News channel on Wednesday evening, hours after he attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Adityanath said, “Dekhiye, agar aap mujhse ek mukhyamantri ke roop mein poochhenge toh mujhe kisi mazhab, sampraday se koi parhez nahi hai. Agar ek Yogi ke roop mein poochhenge toh katai nahi jaoonga (if you ask me as a CM, then I will not maintain a distance from any religion or group. But if asked (to attend) as a Yogi, then I will definitely not go).”

Adityanath said, “I will not go because I am a Yogi. As a Hindu, I have a right to live according to my method of worship…”

Stating that he is not a party in the event of the mosque’s construction, Adityanath said, “That is why no one will call me there, and I don’t want to go…. I know that I will not get any such invitation…”

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