- Friday, May 17, 2024
He also questioned the silence of the Indian National Congress, an ally of the leader who made the controversial statement at an election rally.
By: Twinkle Roy
VERBAL duels between India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by prime minister Narendra Modi and the opposition are intensifying with each passing day in the ongoing general elections in India.
On Thursday (2), Modi hit out at Maria Alam Khan, a leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, over her appeal to people to go for “vote jihad” in the ongoing polls in the Farrukhabad constituency in the state.
Speaking at a rally in Anand in the western state of Gujarat that will go to polls on May 7, Modi slammed Khan alleging she was seeking votes on religious grounds and also criticised the Indian National Congress for maintaining silence over Khan’s remarks. The accused leader is the niece of Salman Khurshid, a leader of the Congress and former Indian external affairs minister who has studied at Oxford University.
He also said that the remarks had come from an educated family and not a “child coming out of a madrasa (an Islam-centered school)”.
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“A leader from the INDI Alliance has exposed their strategy in front of the country. The INDI alliance has asked Muslims to go for Vote Jihad.”
INDI Alliance stands for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance — a platform comprising more than two dozen opposition parties seeking to prevent Modi and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance from winning power for the third consecutive time.
Both the Congress and SP are part of the alliance and have formed an electoral alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most important state politically as it sends 80 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the parliament.
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“INDIA bloc is saying that all Muslims should get together and vote. The INDI alliance has insulted democracy and the Constitution. Any leader from Congress is yet to oppose this statement, indicating their tacit understanding,” Modi said while slamming Congress for keeping mum on the remark.
While campaigning for Naval Kishore Shakya Kaimganj, an INDIA bloc candidate in Farrukhabad recently, Khan urged the minority community to come together and do “vote jihad” in order to defeat the Hindu nationalists.
She said, according to an India Today report, “Together do vote jihad — with intelligence, without being sentimental and with silence. As we can only do vote jihad to drive away this Sanghi (right-wing) government. It is time to join hands, otherwise this Sanghi government will succeed in wiping out our existence.”
“People say that the Constitution and democracy are under threat. But I say that ‘insaniyat’ (humanity) is under threat. Now there is an attack on ‘insaniyat’. If you want to save the country, its beauty and ‘ganga-jamuni’ (composite) culture, then vote very intelligently without getting influenced by anyone,” she was heard saying in a video from the event.
A case was registered against the SP leader who was accused of breaching the election’s model code of conduct, under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of People Act, a source in the police in Farrukhabad district said, an Indian Express report said.
In India, terms such as ‘love jihad’ — claim that Muslim men are luring Hindu women into romantic relationships under false pretension to actually convert them to Islam or ‘land jihad’ — claim that Muslims are occupying public land to build religious structures are known and now ‘vote jihad’ is a new addition.
When Khurshid was asked about Khan’s remark, he told the media that he avoids uttering certain words in public addresses because they are misinterpreted, NDTV reported.
“Jihad means to fight against a situation. Her intention must have been to carry out vote jihad to protect the Constitution,” Khurshid, who has been an MP from Farrukhabad twice but lost badly from there in the last two elections, added.
