Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday the word ‘secular’ was the ‘biggest lie’ told after India gained independence and the people responsible for using the word should apologise for it.

Adityanath was speaking at a function organised by the Dainik Jagran group in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, and was responding to a question on communalism and secularism. He also said that any distortion’ of history is akin to sedition, reports the Hindustan Times.

Speaking in Hindi, Adityanath said, ‘Mera maanna hai ki azadi ke baad Bharat mein sabse bada jhooth dharmnirpeksh shabd hai. Nagrikon ke saath, Bharat ke logon ke saath… un logon ko maafi maangni chahiye, jinhone is shabd ko janm diya aur jo yeh shabd istemaal karte hai… koi vyavastha dharmnirpeksh nahin ho sakti. Rajneetik vyavastha panthnirpeksh ho sakti hai,’ the Indian Express reported. (‘I believe that after Independence, the biggest lie in India is the word secular...the people who gave birth to this word and who use it, should apologise. No system can be secular. Political systems can be neutral towards sects, but not secular.’)

The word ‘secular’ is included in the Preamble to India’s constitution, which strives to make the country a ‘soveriegn, socialist, secular, democratic republic’.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal had a reply for the monk-turned-politician, dubbing his statement the ‘biggest lie’ instead.

Adityanath took a dig at neighbouring Pakistan saying that the words ‘Pakistan’ and ‘Paki’ were considered derogatory in Europe. ‘Pakistan has become synonymous with a word of abuse,’ he said. .

Earlier in the day, addressing a convention of BJP workers at the Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium, Adityanath accused the Congress of playing with the sentiments of the people and dividing them on the basis of caste, region and language for its vested interest.

‘It practised politics of appeasement for political gains and gave birth to scourge of terrorism, Naxalism and separatism. The country is still paying the price (for its policies),’ the BJP leader said.

Adityanath said if the grand old party had acted responsibly, the country would not been facing so many problems.

‘If the Congress leadership had discharged its duties, the country would not have been grappling with starvation and lack of health facilities. If anyone is responsible for the country’s mismanagement, it is the 55-year rule of the Congress,’ the UP chief minister said.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government in states are making efforts to tackle such problems and take the country on the path of development.