KANPUR: BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday paid obeisance at the Namdev gurdwara here and asserted that no other leader has done the kind of work that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done for the Sikh community.
He also credited Modi with ensuring that copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib reached India from Afghanistan.
Forty-four Afghan Sikhs carrying three copies of the Guru Granth Sahib reached India on a special flight on August 24 after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan earlier that month.
Addressing people at the gurdwara, Nadda said, "Being a soldier of the BJP, I bow my head at the feet of Guru Namdev ji and say with pride that no one else has done the work that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done for the Sikh community and the Sikh brothers."
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the Sikh community and has fulfilled their old demands. The prime minister has sent those involved in the 1984 riots to jail, no matter how influential they were," he said.
The BJP president's meeting with the Sikh community in the gurdwara comes weeks after the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which eight people including four Sikh farmers were killed.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh, BJP state in-charge Radha Mohan Singh and other senior party leaders were also present on the occasion.
On the second day of his two-day visit to poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Nadda also inaugurated the BJP's regional office here and seven other district offices.
"I always say that the wanderer should not stop and always keep walking. Our goal is to strengthen the party," he told party workers.
Later in the day, Nadda will address a meeting of booth presidents of three divisions (Kanpur-Bundelkhand region) including Kanpur, Jhansi and Chitrakoot.
Nadda is visiting Uttar Pradesh to take stock of the BJP's preparations for the state assembly elections due early next year.