Former Ally Accuses BJP of Sowing Religious Discord to Win Elections

Last week, violence erupted in several Indian states, including BJP-governed Madhya Pradesh after stones were pelted on a religious procession conducted to celebrate the Hindu festival Ram Navami. In Madhya Pradesh, the state government imposed a curfew, and later, as a step to punish the stone throwers, it reportedly demolished their houses.

Referring to the communal violence in various parts of India, Shiv Sena politician Sanjay Raut on Sunday verbally attacked its former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming that the party is adopting a strategy of sowing religious discord to win elections.

He went on to say that if someone wants to stoke the fire of fundamentalism and disturb the peace to win polls, they are sowing seeds of a second “Partition”.

He also said that violence on the occasion of Ram Navami is not a good sign. "Processions on the occasion of Ram Navami were all about culture and religion, but now people participating in it are brandishing swords and raising religious slogans which create communal discord. Ruckus is created outside mosques resulting in violence”, he alleged in his weekly column in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece “Saamana”.

Taking a jibe at the BJP, the former spokesperson of Shiv Sena said that displaying swords in the name of Lord Rama cannot be called "Hindutva" and stoking communal fires in the name of Lord Rama is an insult to the idea of Lord Rama.

Referring to the violence in Khargone city in Madhya Pradesh on 10 April, Raut said that even Lord Rama will be restless over the developments there.

He said that cultural processions were held in Maharashtra as well, but no incident of violence were reported despite passing through areas where the Muslim population is larger.

Talking about the violence in Sabarkantha in Gujarat, he said that it is unbelievable that Muslims hurled stones at the Ram Navami procession in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Federal Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shiv Sena and the BJP were part of an alliance until 2019, but after the Maharashtra state assembly polls, the parties ended the alliance. Since then, the long-time-friends-turned-bitter-foes have been at loggerheads and continue to slam each other on various issues.