The Foreign Office has condemned an Indian minister’s statement about taking back ‘Sindhu’, the region around the Indus River in Southern Pakistan.

“We condemn the highly irresponsible remarks made by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a key member of India’s ruling dispensation and a follower of the bigoted Hindutva ideology, at the National Sindhi Convention in Lucknow,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement in response to media queries on Tuesday.

On Monday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that if Ram Janmabhoomi — the site of the Babri Masjid which has now been turned into a temple — could be “taken back after 500 years, then there is no reason why we cannot take back Sindhu”.

“After 500 years, a grand temple of Lord Ram is being constructed in Ayodhya. Ramlala will be seated again in his temple by the prime minister in January. If Ram Janmabhoomi can be taken back after 500 years, there is no reason why we cannot take back Sindhu,” India’s NDTV quoted him as saying.

The FO spokesperson’s statement added that it was equally condemnable that the so-called reclamation of the ‘Ram Janmabhoomi’ has been cited by the CM as a template for reclaiming the region that constitutes part of Pakistan. “History bears witness that a Hindu supremacist mob had brazenly demolished the historic Babri Mosque on 6 December 1992 to take back the claimed birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya.”

She added that the Indian chief minister’s provocative remarks were inspired by the “gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ (undivided India)”. Such remarks manifested a “revisionist and expansionist mindset” that seeks to subjugate the identity and culture of not only India’s neighbouring countries but also its own religious minorities, Baloch said and described such statements as a perverse view of history.

“It is a matter of grave concern that such ideas are being increasingly peddled by individuals belonging to the BJP-RSS combine to further their divisive and parochial political agenda. Instead of nurturing hegemonic and expansionist ambitions, the Indian leaders should resolve disputes with neighbouring countries, and work with them to build a peaceful and prosperous South Asia.”