Congress demands apology from Fadnavis over ‘vote jihad’ remark
Patole also alleged that Fadnavis has to take support of communal discourse to hide the failure of the present government and its corruption.
3 min read
Patole also alleged that Fadnavis has to take support of communal discourse to hide the failure of the present government and its corruption. (Express Archives) Demanding an apology from Maharashtra Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis for his statements alleging “vote jihad” and “love jihad”, Opposition Congress on Tuesday said that his statements as Home Minister are violating the constitutional principles of equality.
“Devendra Fadnavis is a Home Minister of a state, which gave the icons like Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Dr Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule who taught this country about equality. It is demeaning to Maharashtra that its Home Minister makes claims like love jihad and vote jihad. If any such cases are happening then who’s stopping him from taking action,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.
Patole also alleged that Fadnavis has to take support of communal discourse to hide the failure of the present government and its corruption. “These statements are meant to create communal tensions but the people of Maharashtra will not accept it,” said the Congress leader.
Speaking at an event in Kolhapur on Monday, Fadnavis had said, “A decade ago, we used to think that love jihad talk was a one-off incident. We thought it was not a conspiracy. We have now observed that there have been more than one lakh complaints where Hindu women are lured into marriage by running away with men from different faiths.”
The BJP leader also raked up vote jihad with reference to the outcome in the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency where the MVA candidate emerged victorious on account of “en masse voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment against the BJP nominee in the fray”. He said, “BJP candidate was ahead by 1.90 lakh votes in five other assembly constituencies. But MVA candidate received 1.94 lakh votes in Malegaon Central constituency alone,” he said.
Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant slammed Fadnavis saying the Constitution allows the right to vote to every Indian citizen. “Fadnavis’s statement is an insult to the Constitution and the oath he has taken while sitting on a constitutional position. He should rather introspect why Muslims do not vote for the BJP,” said Sawant.
Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded probe into the escalation of Thane-Borivali tunnel road cost to Rs 18,000 crore from Rs 14,000 crore. Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar also slammed the government over Rs 1,400-crore tender from CIDCO for Kondhane dam alleging it has been done eyeing specific contractor.
You May Like
