Weapon of 'love jihad' being used to win elections, create fear among Hindus: Sanjay Raut
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed last year gave a new "aura" to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's leadership and if the trend continues in 2023, the country may see a political change in the next general elections.
In his weekly column Rokhthok in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah should not sow "seeds of hatred and divisiveness."
The Rajya Sabha member said the Ram temple issue has been settled, so no votes can be sought on the matter.
"Hence, a new 'love jihad' angle is being explored. Is this weapon of 'love jihad' being used to win elections and create fear among Hindus?" he asked.
Referring to the death of actor Tunisha Sharma last month and the murder of Shraddha Walkar allegedly by her boyfriend, Raut asserted these were not cases of "love jihad", but maintained that no woman from any community or religion should face atrocities.
"Love jihad" is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Raut said hope the country is free of fear in 2023.
"What is going on is politics of power. Hope Rahul Gandhi's yatra is successful and achieves its objective," he said.
Gandhi started the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact initiative, from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, 2022 and it is likely to culminate in Srinagar this month-end.
''The year 2022 has given a new shine and aura to the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. If it remains the same in 2023, we can see a political change in 2024 (general elections)," Raut said.
He further wrote that Prime Minister Modi says "we need to do away with the narrow-minded attitude".
But, the fact is this attitude has grown in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) rule, the Rajya Sabha member claimed.
"Today's rulers don't want to acknowledge the existence and rights of opposition parties," he said.
Raut further claimed that creating divisions among Hindus and Muslims will lead to a new partition.
"Modi and Shah should not sow seeds of hatred and divisiveness," he said.
Awakening Hindus is the BJP's agenda, but this does not mean creating hatred and divisiveness in society, Raut said, and targeted the government while claiming that issues of unemployment and price rise have been brushed aside.
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Chabahar port will benefit entire region: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on US warning
Kolkata, May 15: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Chabahar port would benefit the entire region and a narrow view should not be taken of it, after the US warned that any country having business dealings with Iran runs the "potential risk of sanctions".
Speaking at a programme in Kolkata on Tuesday night, he said that in the past, even the US has been appreciative of the fact that the Chabahar port has a larger relevance.
India on Monday signed a 10-year contract to operate the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar that will help New Delhi expand trade with Central Asia.
"We had a long association with the Chabahar port but we could never sign a long-term agreement. The reason was there were various problems... Finally, we were able to sort this out and we were able to get the long-term agreement done. A long-term agreement is necessary because without it we cannot improve the port operations. And, the port operations, we believe, will benefit the entire region," Jaishankar said.
"I did see some remarks which were made, but I think it's a question of communicating and convincing and getting people to understand that this is actually for everybody's benefit. I don't think people should take a narrow view of it. And, they have not done so in the past.
"If you look at even the US's own attitude to Chabahar in the past, the US has been appreciative of the fact that Chabahar has a larger relevance. We will work at it," he said.
Located in Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman -- which New Delhi had proposed to develop way back in 2003 -- will provide Indian goods a gateway to reach landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia using a road and rail project called International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), bypassing Pakistan.
US sanctions on Iran over its suspected nuclear programme had slowed the development of the port.
"We're aware of these reports that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port. I will let the government of India speak to its own foreign policy goals vis-a-vis the Chabahar port as well as its bilateral relationship with Iran," US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday.
"I will just say, as it relates to the United States, US sanctions on Iran remain in place and we’ll continue to enforce them," he said in response to a question on the Chabahar port deal.
"You've heard us say this in several instances, that any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions," Patel said.
India and Iran have projected the port as a key hub for the 7,200-km-long INSTC -- a multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
The long-term agreement was signed by Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) and the Port and Maritime Organisation of Iran, an official statement said.
