Yogi targets Ansari over remarks on Hindu right-wing communalism
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday accused former vice president Mohammad Hamid Ansari of attempting to tarnish India's image, with his statements "disparaging India's Sanatan tradition and insulting its Hindu tradition".
Addressing the Prerna Vimarsh event at the Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida, Adityanath said India's cultural traditions should not be viewed as a threat, referring to the "unfortunate statement" made by Ansari a day earlier.
The former vice president on Saturday cited former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's view that the "real danger to India was not communism, but Hindu right-wing communalism" while speaking at an event in New Delhi commemorating late constitutional expert and author A G Noorani.
He was speaking at an event organised at the India Islamic Cultural Centre to commemorate Noorani and referred to his 2019 book "The RSS: A Menace to India".
Adityanath said, "It does not befit us to refute it; however, his statements were truly alarming regarding India's traditions and culture. An attempt was made to tarnish India's image. He made statements disparaging India's Sanatan tradition and insulting its Hindu tradition, and made malicious attempts to link it to terrorism."
"India is a secular state in the global context because it is a nation of Sanatan Dharma, with a majority of its people taking pride in their traditions, the lineage of sages, ancestors, deities and cultural heritage," he claimed without elaborating further.
The chief minister also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over what he dubbed as "jhooth ki goonj" event, alleging that it amounted to an insult to women.
He said Indian social customs teach people to respect women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.
"Consider walking along a narrow path: if the way is constricted and we encounter an elderly person, a woman, a differently-abled individual, or someone senior to us, our custom is to step aside and say, 'After you'," he said.
"But these are the people who have strayed from the right path; their sole objective has become to create chaos by sowing confusion within society," Adityanath said.
The chief minister also highlighted his government's initiatives for women, saying three PAC battalions have been named after legendary women freedom fighters Jhalkari Bai, Rani Avantibai Lodhi and Uda Devi.
He said women in independent India have excelled in various fields, including education, policing, medicine and the judiciary, and cited astronaut Kalpana Chawla and athlete P T Usha as examples of women who had made the country proud.
Adityanath also referred to a woman sub-inspector from the Uttar Pradesh Police, claiming she had won a gold medal at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
He said the state government had increased opportunities for women in the Uttar Pradesh Police and highlighted the contribution of women working as Banking Sakhis and milk producers.
The chief minister further said that, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the four "castes" in India are the poor, farmers, women and youth, and that both the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government were working for their welfare.
