New Delhi: Swami Prasad Maurya, leader of the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, has accused the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government of intentionally inciting violence in Sambhal related to the Shahi Masjid dispute.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Maurya argued that if the BJP claims mosques are built on temples, then it could also be said that Buddhist monasteries have been converted into temples. He reiterated his previous assertion that Kedarnath and Badrinath were originally Buddhist monasteries. Maurya stressed the importance of adhering to the Constitution, which mandates that religious sites should remain unchanged as they were in 1947. He questioned the necessity of taking individuals chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ to these sites, implying it revealed who was responsible for the unrest.

In a related development, Mata Prasad Pandey, Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, criticized the BJP for the disturbances in Sambhal. He accused the Uttar Pradesh police of stockpiling illegal weapons and suggested that the BJP benefits politically from sustaining communal tensions in North India.