The Shiv Sena on Monday said Uttar Pradesh has become an “Islamic state” and its Akhilesh Yadav-led government is involved in “anti-national activities”. The party was expressing its ire at the state’s decision to allow a concert in Lucknow by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali, whom it has targeted frequently in the past.

An article in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna criticised the decision to invite Ali to promote Hindu-Muslim unity, saying the “Islamic Yadav government” could have invited a famous Indian Muslim to the same end. The Sena accused Yadav’s government of playing “appeasement politics” ahead of the state polls, which will be held next year. Stretching this narrative to a hyperbole, the party said that Yadav’s Samajwadi party might next invite Hafiz Saeed (the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks) to please minorities.

The Sena also took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party, with whom it has a troubled alliance in Maharashtra. It claimed that the BJP had turned into a mute spectator at Ali’s concert, which took place in the state capital on Sunday. The Shiv Sena had threatened to disrupt the concert, and had forced the cancellation of another show by the singer in Mumbai last year.