Uttar Pradesh police booked Bhartiya Janata Party leader Suresh Rana on Monday for “promoting enmity and circulating rumours to spread fear among the public”, ANI reported. Earlier in the day, Rana declared that if he won the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, he would impose curfew in the districts of Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad.

Addressing a rally in his constituency Thana Bhawan on Saturday, Rana said, “Yadi maidan maar liya to Kairana, Deoband, Moradabad mein curfew lag jayega…[If I win, curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad].” The BJP leader, who is contesting from the same seat in the upcoming polls, is an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

Despite being caught making the remarks on video, Rana said his statement was not aimed at any religious community. He claimed that he said if BJP came to power in UP, “hooligans will have to migrate from these areas”, reported The Indian Express. Rana added that a number of people had to move out of Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad because of the atrocities committed by these elements.

In June 2016, BJP leader Hukum Singh had claimed that 346 Hindu families were forced to leave Kairana because of threats and extortion by a “particular community”. In September 2016, an investigation by the Human Rights Commission had found that families had migrated from Kairana because of worsening law and situation order and not because of communal issues.