India, Sept. 5 -- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday asserted that an invader can destroy a temple but cannot destroy faith. He said that while invaders could erect structures over temples, they could never touch the Shri Ram and Shri Krishna enshrined in our hearts.

Speaking at a function held at the Reserve Police Lines in Lucknow on Janmashtami, Adityanath said, "We have been performing Govardhan Puja and circumambulation for the past 5,000 years, with devotees arriving in the hundreds of thousands."

He said this demonstrates that an "invader can destroy a temple but cannot destroy faith" and an "invader can break the idols but not values". He said, "They can erect their own structures over temples, yet they could...