Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday claimed that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would become part of India within six months if Prime Minister Narendra Modi retains power for the third time.

At a rally in Maharashtra’s Palghar, Adityanath said that Islamabad is finding it difficult to hold on to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in a reference to ongoing protests in the region against the rising cost of food and other essentials.

“After the elections, let Modi ji become prime minister for the third time…in the next six months, you will see that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will have become part of India,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said. “It needs courage, and only then can such things can be done.”

Adityanath alleged that when the Congress was in power, it did not act against Pakistan despite terrorist attacks on Indian soil.

“Today, we take out their eyes before they [Pakistan] look at India with bad intention,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said at the rally that a “major British newspaper” had reported that in the past three years, several terrorists were killed in Pakistan and Indian agencies were behind it.

He was referring to an article in The Guardian, which reported on April 4 that the Indian government allegedly assassinated at least 20 persons in Pakistan since 2020 as part of a new strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil.

The British daily had claimed in its report to have seen documentation allegedly tying India’s Research and Analysis Wing to the killings of Indian dissidents in Pakistan, which are said to have been orchestrated by sleeper cells based in the United Arab Emirates.

Commenting on the report, Adityanath said that the Indian government is “not going to worship our enemy”.

He added: “If someone kills our people, we will deal with them as they deserve, and that is what is happening.”

India’s external affairs ministry has, however, denied all the allegations made in The Guardian’s report. In response to the newspaper, the ministry reiterated an earlier statement against Pakistan’s allegations, saying that the claims were “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”.

Responding to Adityanath’s claims, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut asked on Sunday what stopped the Centre from making Pakistan-occupied Kashmir a part of India in the past ten years, The Indian Express reported.

“First, it was Union Home Minister [Amit Shah] and then UP Chief Minister [Adityanath],” Raut said. “Both have said that PoK will be brought within India. But I want to ask, who has stopped them from doing so in the last 10 years?”