BJP will act against 'love jihad', cow smuggling if voted to power in Chhattisgarh: Adityanath
Kawardha (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said action will be taken against those spreading chaos in the name of "love jihad" and cow smuggling in Chhattisgarh, if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in the state.
Addressing a rally in Kawardha assembly seat of poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Saturday, Adityanath termed the Congress as a "problem for the country, society and public".
Referring to the victory of the Congress in the 2018 polls in Chhattisgarh as a "mistake", he claimed Ram Navami processions were banned, while a worker opposing "love jihad" was brutally murdered.
"There is a double engine government of Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh. Love jihad has been completely banned there. A law has been made in this connection and against conversion. No one can convert illegally. If anyone does such an act, then he or she will have to face the consequences," he said.
'Love jihad' is a term used by right wing activists to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to get Hindu women to convert by luring them into marriage.
"I am urging you to allow a double engine government in Chhattisgarh too. They (Congress) have been trying to disturb law and order in the name of love jihad, cow smuggling, mining mafia. Just like in Uttar Pradesh, action will be taken against such acts. Then there will be no problem," he said.
Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have a very cordial relationship. For the people of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh is like their maternal home. This state is the maternal home of Lord Ram and the paternal home of Mata Kaushalya, Adityanath said.
Kawardha is as sacred as Kashi (ancient name of Varanasi) but mischievously they (Congress) have set up a person like Akbar (sitting Congress sitting MLA and minister Mohammad Akbar) here, the UP CM said.
"It is the mischief of the Congress to play with your faith in a holy city. Such a person has been placed here who does not have any concern with your faith and your development. Under his protection, all those elements are flourishing which disrupt the saffron flag and our symbol of our faith," he claimed.
Accusing the Bhupesh Baghel government of corruption, Adityanath said Chhattisgarh was formed under the leadership of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and 15 years of BJP rule under Raman Singh had led the state to reach new heights of development.
"But in the last five years, the Congress disrupted development here, which is the party's tradition. The Congress is a problem for the country, society and public. It is the Congress which gave terrorism, separatism, policy of appeasement, Naxalism, corruption and anarchy," he said.
"The BJP is a party that runs the government by making development, good governance and security as standards. We can see this in the new India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.
The Congress has cheated the people of Chhattisgarh and committed scams in the Public Service Commission, liquor and cow dung procurement, he claimed.
The UP chief minister also addressed a meeting in Pandariya assembly constituency.
Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh will take place in two phases on November 7 and 17 and votes will be counted on December 3.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Traitor' jibe: HC issues notice to police, Sena MLA on Kamra's plea against FIR
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Mumbai police and Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel on comedian Kunal Kamra's plea challenging an FIR lodged against him for allegedly passing a "traitor" jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
A division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and S M Modak said it would hear Kamra's petition on April 16.
The comedian has failed to appear before the Mumbai police for questioning despite three summons issued to him.
Following a complaint by Sena MLA Murji Patel, the Khar police in Mumbai last month registered the FIR against Kamra under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 356(2) (defamation).
"Issue notice to the respondents (police and Patel). They shall take instructions and respond to the plea," the HC said.
Three FIRs registered against the comedian at Nashik Rural, Jalgaon and Nashik (Nandgaon) have also been transferred to the Khar police.
Kamra's counsel Navroz Seervai informed the Bombay HC bench that the Madras High Court on Monday extended till April 17 the earlier interim transit anticipatory bail granted to the comedian.
The petitioner has offered in writing thrice to the police to allow him to appear for questioning via video conference in light of the dangers and threat to his life, Seervai said.
"It seems that the police authorities are not so keen on recording his statement but more on bringing him here physically," the senior counsel claimed.
Kamra is presently in Tamil Nadu where he has been residing since 2021, as per his plea.
"This is not a case of murder. It is an FIR that has stemmed from a stand-up comedy show. He (Kamra) is ready to cooperate with the probe but through video conference," Seervai said.
The bench said it would consider all issues on April 16.
During the show, stand-up comedian Kamra had taunted Shinde, without taking his name, using a modified version of a Hindi song from the film "Dil To Pagal Hai" where he called him a "gaddar" (traitor).
The comedian went on to joke about how Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership (in June 2022).
In his plea filed on April 5, Kamra claimed the complaints against him were violative of his fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression, right to practice any profession and business and right to life and liberty guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
He sought for the FIR to be quashed, claiming the allegations, even if taken at face value, do not constitute an offence.
The comedian also sought the HC to protect him from any coercive action including arrest, seizure of his personal electronic devices and examination of his financial transactions and accounts.
"To permit the investigation to continue would constitute a frontal assault on the freedom of speech and expression. Should a citizen's right to comment on the political developments and actions of political leaders be criminalised in this manner?" the petition said.
Kamra said his remarks made regarding the split in the Shiv Sena, Shinde quitting Uddhav Thackeray's Sena faction and being sworn in as the chief minister at the time (in 2022) are all part of records.
The plea said the FIR has been registered on a stand-up comedy performance, which provides satirical commentary on various social and political events of the country.
There has been a gross abuse of process and the malafide deployment of the criminal justice machinery by a member of the state's legislative assembly, resulting in a patent violation of a citizen's fundamental rights, it claimed.
As per the petition, Kamra wrote the show's script in July 2024 and performed it on 60 occasions between August last year and February 2025.
A recording of the show was uploaded only in March 2025, pursuant to which case was lodged, it said.
