The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday scoffed at the ruling dispensation in Uttar Pradesh after the exterior walls of a Haj house in Lucknow were painted in saffron colour and said if this continued, then one day everything would be painted in saffron.
SP leader Azam Khan told ANI, "Someday we will see even the Mosques are coloured in saffron. The colours of our clothes can be made saffron. Our wives and children will be dragged out of our house and will be made to wear saffron clothes. If religious beliefs will be forced then the consequences will be like that of the earlier rulers."
The SP leader further claimed that unlike other years, this year there was a dip in the Hajis going for the annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and alleged that the government was responsible for this decline.
"Earlier we used to request the Indian Government to increase the Haj quota, but this is for the first time that very less number of Hajis are going to the Haj. They believe they are not safe," said the SP leader.
The exterior walls of the Haj House in Lucknow, earlier in the day, were painted in saffron colour -- majorly related with the Hinduism and also associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Reacting to the incident, Uttar Pradesh Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohsin Raza said the move should not invite any controversy as the building was painted saffron just to beautify it.
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However, the Opposition is claiming that the BJP resorted to alleged 'saffronisation' of the state.
Earlier, the secretariat building, which houses the offices of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and top bureaucrats in Lucknow, was also painted saffron.
Adityanath had also rolled out a fleet of 50 saffron buses last year.