Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Thursday criticised the Congress government in Karnataka for its “state of anarchy”, and accused it of not protecting Hindus and Bharatiya Janata Party members, PTI reported.

The BJP leader, who addressed a rally in the state’s Hubballi city organised by the party’s state unit, also brought up the issue of Tipu Jayanti celebrations and accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of attempting to convert the state, “the land of Bajarang Bali” into “a land of worshipers of Tipu Sultan”.

The 18th-Century Mysuru ruler’s birth anniversary celebrations have been at the centre of a political storm since November 2015 as the Bharatiya Janata Party looks at him in a negative light.

“It is now left to you to decide whether you want it to be a land where saints, spiritual leaders, and gods and goddesses are worshipped or a land of worshippers of Tipu,” Adityanath was quoted as saying by The Hindu. The Congress, he added, was “scared of Hanuman” and had ruined its own legacy by following an “appeasement policy”.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister urged the people of the state to dismiss the Congress like the electorate in Gujarat and Himachal had done, and alleged that the party was trying to divide the state along the lines of caste.

Hindu right-wing organisations have been up in arms against the ruling party’s decision to back the demand of the Lingayats – who are classified as Other Backward Classes and constitute 17% of Karnataka’s population – for a separate religious status with the aim of cutting into the BJP’s vote bank. The Lingayat Mahasabha has set a December 30 deadline for Karnataka to recommend to the Centre minority status for the community.

Adityanath criticised the Congress government’s policies for farmers, and said that it had not waived the loans that farmers had taken from nationalised banks. “We have waived Rs 36,000 crore loans of 86 lakh farmers,” the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. “They [the Congress] will not waive farmers’ loans as they fear that they will be left with no money to loot from exchequer.”