Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Sunday, claimed that the US dropping bombs on Taliban 20 years ago was god's punishment.
The chief minister, addressing the 'Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan' in Lucknow, said, "You must have seen the scenes when Taliban destroyed the 2,500-year-old statue of Gautam Buddha in Bamiyan in Afghanistan 20 years ago. The world saw that barbarism of Taliban."
"Just a few days after that, the US dropped bombs there and Talibanis began getting killed. We had said the god is punishing them for what they did to the statue of Gautam Buddha," news agency ANI quoted the CM as saying.
He further said Buddha never imposed war on the world but was a source of inspiration for humanity. "No Indian, or anyone supporting peace and harmony anywhere in the world, should forget the scenes of his statue being destroyed by Taliban."
The chief minister said Indian history has been distorted even as he falsely claimed that Chandragupta Maurya defeated Alexander. "How is history distorted! History didn't call Chandragupta Maurya great, whom did it call great? The one who lost from him. They call Alexander, the great. The nation has been cheated. But historians are silent on it."
“If the truth comes out before Indians, the society will stand up once again. When society stands up, the nation stands up too. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making this nation stand up today,” he said.
