Vinay Katiyar

Vinay Katiyar (born 11 November 1954) to Devi Charan Katiyar and Shyam Kali in Kanpur. He holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from Kanpur University.

Later, Katiyar served as the President of Uttar Pradesh State Unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 18 July 2004 and the national General Secretary of the BJP from 2006.

Katiyar was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ayodhya (Lok Sabha constituency) to the 10th, 11th and 13th Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996 and 1999, and to the Rajya Sabha as a representative of Uttar Pradesh in 2012.

Controversies In a 2018 interview with ANI, Katiyar said that there was no need for Muslims to remain in India in the wake of its Partition, and that Muslims in India should, instead, move to Pakistan or Bangladesh. These views were shared after his comments about the Taj Mahal, claiming that the monument was a Hindu temple in the period of Aurangzeb's rule and implied that it would soon be returned to its 'original state' through its destruction.