New Delhi [India], May 2 : Envisaging their "inevitable defeat," the INDIA bloc is resorting to a hardline communal agenda, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sudhanshu Trivedi, said here on Thursday.
Supporting his claim, he cited an incident where the INDI Alliance leader in the Farukhabad constituency of Uttar Pradesh spoke of "vote jihad."
"The Congress party is envisaging their inevitable defeat and the INDI alliance is now going berserk. They are gradually losing their mental cool and balance so they are going to the extent of invoking violence on the hardline communal agenda and their communal agenda is getting gradually exposed. First, they have tried to put the communal lining in their manifesto. Then they tried to communalize the reservation issue" he said.
Just two days ago, their leader in the Farukhabad constituency of Uttar Pradesh talked about "vote jihad," the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP said.
"... and now the TMC MLA Humuyan has gone to the extent of saying that we are so much of a percentage if you are in that much of a percentage, we will drown you in the river Ganga....Your agenda had started with the eradication of Santan Dharma and now comes to the violent expression of these types of things so your hatred against the Hindu Dharma and Sanskreeti is becoming gradually exposed," the BJP leader said.
Notably, an FIR has been lodged against senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid and and his niece Maria Alam Khan, a Samajwadi Party leader, over an appeal she made at a public meeting on Monday for "vote jihad" in support of the INDIA bloc candidate from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency.
The case has been registered in Kayamganj Police Station in Fatehgarh district under sections 188 and 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code.
Farrukhabad SP Vikas Kumar said, "A video of Maria Alam Khan, an SP leader, is going viral on social media, where she is seen asking for votes on religious grounds. This is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. A written report was submitted at PS Kayamganj... The investigation will proceed accordingly."
Farrukhabad parliamentary constituency will vote in the fourth phase of elections on May 13.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections are underway and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.