1 month ago
Last Updated: October 01, 2024, 15:12 IST
Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis also spoke about the purported rise of 'love jihad' in the state, and said such cases were rarely heard of 10 years ago. (Image: PTI/File)
Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said people from a "particular community" cast a united vote to defeat "Hindutvawadi" candidates, and think they can "bring down Hindutva" by organising themselves
Ahead of the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed “vote jihad” for the BJP’s poor show in the state during the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
Explaining himself, Fadnavis said people from a “particular community” cast a united vote to defeat “Hindutvawadi” candidates in at least 14 out of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra. He said “some people” think that they can “bring down Hindutva” by organising themselves.
“‘Vote jihad’ was seen in 14 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. People from a particular community voted unitedly to defeat the Hindutvawadi candidates,” he said, giving the examples of Dhule and Malegaon seats.
According to him, in Dhule, which is near Nashik district, the BJP candidate was leading by 1.90 lakh votes in at least five assembly segments. But, at the same time, the other candidate from Malegaon won by a 4,000-vote margin and got a total of 1.94 lakh votes, he said.
“The confidence of people from the other community has grown and they have started believing that they can defeat Hindutvawadis even with fewer numbers. Some people feel that by organising themselves, they can bring down Hindutva,” he added.
The deputy chief minister also spoke about the purported rise of “love jihad” in the state, and said such cases were rarely heard of 10 years ago. “…when people used to talk about ‘love jihad’, we used to think that it was a single incident, but today it seems that it is a deliberate conspiracy. There are more than one lakh complaints out there. They hide behind marriage, but this is ‘love jihad’…” he said.
At the CNN-News18 Town Hall a few days, he had expressed similar sentiments during an interaction about the upcoming assembly elections. He had blamed “fake narratives” and “vote jihad” for the BJP’s poor Lok Sabha performance and said this will not be the case in the polls ahead. The saffron party was better prepared and has fixed its issues, while the “ground reality is different” now, he had said.
“In the Lok Sabha election results, BJP-led Mahayuti’s vote share was 43.6%, while the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured 43.9%. While the difference was small, it had a major impact on the number of seats,” he had said.
“The fake narrative of the changing of the Constitution and reservation percolated. We saw a ‘vote jihad’ in Maharashtra. In Dhule Lok Sabha seat, in five of the six assembly seats, we were ahead by 1.9 lakh votes. In Malegaon Madhya, we lost by 1,94,000, a gap of 4,000 votes. There was a revengeful voting. Fear was being put in the minds of the minorities. We undermined it. We did not think they would come together and vote. We have fixed it now. Today the situation on ground is different. Even minorities know that polarisation was done. People are seeing our schemes. In Mumbai, look at the Metro, coastal road or Atal Setu or even in rural areas… The narrative is in our favour,” he added.
