VARANASI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said efforts are being made to defame kanwar pilgrims who are subjected to a media trial and termed terrorists and rioters. This, he asserted, stems from mentality that wants to insult India's heritage.

Speaking in support of the Shiva devotees at a seminar on tribal icon Birsa Munda, the chief minister said those who seek to defame the kanwar 'yatris' are the same people who tried to separate the tribal community from India.

"They conspired at every level to make them fight against India. This is the same community that always insults the faith of India and these are the same people who today want to create a situation of caste conflict by creating fake accounts on social media platforms," Adityanath said.

The chief minister said the everyone from society, from the working classes to the upper classes, is associated with the yatra.

"There is a wonderful confluence of unity. No discrimination. There is no distinction of caste, no distinction of region, no distinction of class, no difference of opinion, no difference of sect, they go chanting 'Har Har Bam Bam'. They walk 300-400 kilometres, then take water from there, put the kanwar on their shoulders and walk back in the same way with the same devotion," Adityanath said.