BJP working to erase social harmony, minorities helped in Karnataka victory: Congress

People from all castes and religions lived in harmony in India, until the BJP came to power, said Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole at a meeting of the state unit's minority cell. He accused the BJP of erasing the true identity of India in the past 9 years.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of working to erase social harmony in the country and asserted that minorities contributed to the party's emphatic victory in the Karnataka polls. People from all castes and religions lived in harmony in India, until the BJP came to power, said Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole at a meeting of the state unit's minority cell. He accused the BJP of erasing the true identity of India in the past 9 years.

Patole said the BJP government at the Centre was hurting democracy and the Constitution. The BJP is doing politics in the name of caste and religion but the people of the country can now see through it, he said. Patole said the BJP raised religious issues like hijab in the Karnataka Assembly elections, but those leaders who banked on religious issues lost their deposit. The people of Karnataka did not allow BJP's bigoted politics to continue, he said.

Hitting out at BJP's double engine' slogan, he said, Manipur has a double-engine government. We are seeing what the situation is there today. Patole's party colleague and former chief minister Ashok Chavan said that the Karnataka polls have shown that there is no need for a double engine in the country. A double engine is needed only when one engine stops but Congress has only one strong and powerful engine and that is Rahul Gandhi, he said.

The minority community also contributed a lot to the victory in Karnataka, he said. It can happen in Maharashtra as well, Chavan said. The AIMIM and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) work to divide votes in Maharashtra and it directly benefits the BJP, said Chavan, adding that the minority community should unitedly stand behind the Congress to bring it to power.

Speaking at the meeting, former minister and party's regional working president Naseem Khan said, In some areas of Maharashtra, including Sambhajinagar and Akola, attempts were made to vitiate the environment by spreading hatred between two communities, but we handled the situation sensibly.

He said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP are doing the work of sowing poison in society but Rahul Gandhi is fighting them with great courage. He accused the BJP of bringing religious issues like hijab and halal in Karnataka elections. They brought The Kerala Story' when they saw nothing was working, he said. Khan said the prime minister of the country who is called Vishwaguru promoted the controversial film but the public foiled that plan too. People should not fall prey to BJP's conspiracy. If they spread hatred, we must combat it with love, he said. (PTI)