By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, now well into his second consecutive term in office, posted a roughly two-minute-long clip of a speech to his over 32 million followers on X on Monday (May 18, 2026). In it, he spoke about offering namaz in public spaces without once using the word ‘Muslim’.
Adityanath’s message was posted with the accompanying words, “Namaz padhni hai, aap shift mein padhiye… pyaar se maanenge theek hai, nahin maanenge toh doosra tareeka apnayenge…(If you want to offer namaz, do it in shifts… if you agree politely, that is fine; if not, other methods will be adopted…)”
His post has so far been shared over 3.8 lakh times, though it is impossible to say if it is the critics or those who support his views who have done so.
Here is a look at what he said and the subtext that the audience did not miss – they responded with applause whenever he brought up the familiar tropes of Hindutva nationalism.
Targeting Muslims in the language of ‘law and order’
Adityanath frames the issue of prayer in the words of neutral governance, using terms such as “roads are for people” and “rule of law”. But the speech repeatedly singles out namaz. There is no discussion about any other form of public encroachment or religious gatherings, such as Kanwar yatras, whose increasingly ambitious scale and communitarian tilt has repeatedly made headlines.
“People ask me, ‘Have you really stopped namaz on roads in Uttar Pradesh?’ and I tell them, ‘We have, and you can verify this yourselves.’”
The audience applauds at this point, responding enthusiastically to his claim that namaz had been stopped.
Adityanath then thunders, “Arey, what right does he [the Muslim] have to block the road? Which right allows anybody to stop right of way? The place for it, [Muslims] should go there and do it.
“And people [Muslims] told me, ‘How will this be possible, we are many in numbers.’ I told them, pray in shifts. If you don’t have room in your house, then control your numbers.”
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.