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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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
