NEW DELHI: BJP MP Yogi Adityanath who has gained notoriety for his highly communal speeches has now been issued a notice by the Election Commission asking for an explanation his remarks at an election rally at Noida on September 1o.

The EC charged him with violating the model code of conduct stating, “no party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic." The Commission said that the MP had flouted the code and tried to wilfully divide people along communal lines.

"Under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, UP has so far has witnessed 450 communal riots. Why are there no riots in eastern UP?" Adityanath is quoted as having said at a public meeting in Sector 45, Noida. "We will not tolerate harassment of Hindus in the state at any cost. Various parts of UP witnessed communal riots but eastern UP remained untouched. If anybody tries to touch Hindus in eastern UP, he will have to face the consequences," he added.

Adityanath also accused the state government of 'funding' one community. "The UP government is biased towards one community. Rather than funding one particular community, the government should spend the money on improving the electricity situation in the state."

The Supreme Court has also taken note of a petition filed against Adityanath and directed the government and the Election Commission to report back measures taken by them on this issue. The BJP MP is a star campaigner of the party and has been seeking to mobilise votes through inflammatory speeches for the 11 Assembly seats going in for bypolls on September 13.

Uttar Pradesh is simmering under tensions, with the Samajwadi party being compelled to change a Muslim candidate from the Balha constituency and replace him with a Dalit leader to prevent the expected polarisation of votes along religious lines. CDs, and videos are being distributed in the election going constituencies by the BJP and are reportedly in great demand, where Adityanath and others speak of ‘love jihad’ citing instances that have still not come into the official realm of verification, proof and evidence.

In Noida the Gorakpur MP equated the rise in communal violence with the rise of the population of minorities, an old RSS canard that surfaces in elections.

There has been no effort made by the concerned bodies, however, to stop this communal campaign with only warnings and notices being issued till date. Action if at all taken will now clearly be after the campaigning for the current round of byelections is over and the votes are cast.