Maharashtra News: ‘Weak in history…,’ says MVA slamming Devendra Fadnavis over his ‘Vote Jihad’ claim

Deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis has sparked a political row by his statement invoking ‘vote jihad’ and ‘love jihad’ with regard to the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 results in 14 of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra.

Opposition Congress sought an apology from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader claiming his statements as Maharashtra Home Minister violate the constitutional principles of equality.

Addressing a public event in Kolhapur city Fadnavis targeted opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) said claimed ‘vote jihad’ was witnessed in 14 of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra in recent Lok Sabha elections 2024. He pointed out instances wherein women were tricked into inter-faith marriage and subsequently abandoned after they gave birth to children.

One Lakh Complaints

"A decade ago, we used to think that love jihad talk was a one-off incident. We thought it was not a conspiracy. We have now observed that there have been more than one lakh complaints where Hindu women are lured into marriage by running away with men from different faiths," said Fadnavis, who is also Maharashtra's Home Minister.

'Love jihad' is an unofficial term used by Hindu groups to refer to an alleged campaign by Muslim men to convert Hindu girls under the pretext of love and marriage. There are no official police records of the term.

Fadnavis clarified that he was not against inter-faith marriages.

Fadnavis also spoke about ‘vote jihad’ and referenced the outcome in the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency where the MVA candidate emerged victorious on account of ‘en masse voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment against the BJP nominee in the fray’.

The opposition MVA won 30 of the Maharasthra’s 48 seats in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The ruling Mahayuti, a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), bagged just 17 seats of which BJP won 9 seats.

"Out of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies (in Maharashtra), 14 seats witnessed vote jihad. Hindu religion never disrespected other faiths; tolerance is in our blood. I call for the need to awaken Hindutva if someone is voting for electing anti-Hindu leaders to top posts," the former chief minister said.

"In the Dhule constituency, the BJP candidate led with 1.90 lakh votes in five assembly seats. However, our candidate trailed by 1.94 lakh votes because of voting in the Malegaon Central assembly segment, losing the election by just 4,000 votes," Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis is weak in history: Congress

Fadnavis' remarks drew sharp reactions from Congress which accused him of violating the Constitutional oath and demanded an apology.

“Devendra Fadnavis is a Home Minister of a state, which gave icons like Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Dr Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule who taught this country equality. It is demeaning to Maharashtra that its Home Minister makes claims like love jihad and vote jihad. If any such cases are happening then who’s stopping him from taking action,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.

"Fadnavis is weak in history. There were Muslim warriors in Shivaji Maharaj's army. He should apologise," Patole said.

Leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, suggested that Fadnavis' remarks are politically motivated. "The BJP only talks about jihad, mosque, Hindu-Muslim, and Bharat-Pakistan. If they do not use these four words, their candidates will lose deposits in the election. This is a pattern used by BJP people," he alleged.

The row comes ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled for November. The state is expected to witness a two-way fight between the MVA coalition, of the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP - Sharad Pawar and the Congress, and the Mahayuti Alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde and NCP-Ajit Pawar.

In 2019 the BJP and undivided Sena coalition had come to power in the state but later split.

(With PTI inputs)