Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Wednesday said he cannot stop Janmashtami celebrations at police stations as he cannot stop Muslims from offering namaz on the streets during Eid, The Indian Express reported. “Prayers and such celebrations may bring an improvement in the police system,” he said at an event in Lucknow.

The previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh had banned Janmashtami celebrations at police stations. Targeting former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Adityanath said those who claimed to belong to the Yadav clan had imposed the restriction.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said officers had brought up the matter of using microphones, DJs and music systems during the Kanwar Yatra. “I asked them to pass an order banning the use of loudspeakers at all religious places,” he said, according to the Indian Express report. “If such a ban is not possible, then it should not be banned for the yatra either...If they do not play music and drums, do not dance and sing, do not use mics, how will it be a Kanwar Yatra?”

On August 14, a day before Janmashtami, Adityanath had issued a communique asking the police to organise events for the festival in a “traditional and grand way”. He had faced immense criticism as the letter came days after 63 children died in a hospital in the state’s Gorakhpur district.