Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath raked a controversy on Thursday by saying that Mughal emperor Akbar was not great and only 16th century Mewar king Maharana Pratap was.
Addressing a Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) gathering on the occasion of Maharana Pratap Jayanti, he said:
“Akbar asked Maharana Pratap to accept him as ‘badshah’ and that then he won’t interfere in his kingdom Mewar. Maharana Pratap said we can’t accept a ‘vidharmi’ and a foreigner as our ruler. Maharana proved it wasn’t Akbar, but he who was great, by winning back his forts,” CM Adityanath noted.
“I cannot accept Akbar as the king… he is a Turk and he will remain so… he will hurt our self-respect in the garb of friendship… we cannot accept a foreigner as a king,’’ Adityanath quoted Pratap as saying amid chants of “jai Shri Ram”.
Akbar asked Maharana Pratap to accept him as 'badshah' & that then he won't interfere in his kingdom Mewar. Maharana Pratap said we can't accept a 'vidharmi' & a foreigner as our ruler. Maharana proved it wasn't Akbar, but he who was great, by winning back his forts: UP CM (14.6) pic.twitter.com/YjAHejrRYP
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 15, 2018