Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government had established the rule of law in the state, and that “Kairana-like incidents” would not recur, The Indian Express reported. Adityanath made the statement at a rally in the Lucknow West Assembly constituency where he was campaigning for the upcoming local body election.

On June 13, 2016, BJP MP and Muzaffarnagar riots accused Hukum Singh had claimed that a total of 346 families were forced to leave the town because of threats and extortion by “a particular community”, a veiled reference to Muslims in the area. He had later claimed it was not a communal issue.

“Traders who had migrated from the state following kushashan [misrule] and gundaraj [rule by criminals], have started coming back,” Adityanath said on Sunday. “You can see it in Kairana, Kandhala and nearby areas. Mafia who were sheltered by the [previous] government and had taken over traders’ shops and establishments, have handed them back to the traders and moved away to escape government action.”

Adityanath also claimed that more than 1,200 encounters had been carried out during the term of the BJP government that came to power in Uttar Pradesh in March. He said that 1,100 criminals had been imprisoned and 800 had fled to other states.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, at another rally in Mathura, claimed that his government had brought peace to Kosi Kala, a municipality in Mathura, which, he alleged, was “burning” with “one-sided riots” during the Samajwadi Party rule. He also alleged that Hindu women had been ill-treated and cases slapped against them by the police in Mathura.