NEW DELHI: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday trained guns at the Maha Vikas Agadi bloc, accusing it of polarising the upcoming assembly elections on the lines of religion for the sake of votes.
While addressing a public gathering in Pune, Fadnavis called for a “dharma-yudh of votes” to counter “vote-jihad” against the Mahayuti government.
“Elections will come and go, but appeasement has been started by Congress, Sharad Pawar, and ‘UBT’ (Uddhav Thackeray). We are not against any religion. When we started the Ladki Bahin Yojana, we did not say to our sisters from the Muslim community that we will only give the benefit to our Hindu sisters. We provided the scheme to all the sisters irrespective of religion, but some people are trying to polarise voters,” Fadnavis said.
“Remember, Ulema Council has given 17 demands to MVA. One of them is a 10 percent reservation to Muslims, and MVA has given them assurances in writing that they agreed to their demand. Another demand is to release the 2012 riots accused. MVA has accepted their demands in writing. This is dangerous. Another vote jihad is going on in the state. I want to tell you all that if they do vote jihad, we have to do ‘dharmyuddh’ of vote. Ek hain to safe hain,” he added.
Earlier, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad pointed to the Marathi Muslim Seva Sangh’s recent expression of support for the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra.
“Just days ago, we highlighted the All India Ulema Board’s involvement, and today we have this flyer from the Marathi Muslim Seva Sangh. The Congress and its allies are clearly pushing for Muslim votes by advancing this agenda,” Prasad alleged, adding that NGOs were also being mobilised for this cause.
However, the grand old party denied any association with the purported letter from the All India Ulema Board to Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole. On November 6, Congress asserted that no such letter was sent, and that any signatures of Patole’s were forged. In a social media post in Marathi, Maharashtra Congress claimed, “The Mahayuti alliance is trying to mislead people with fake photos and letters that were never sent. But lies will not conceal the truth.”