Accusing the ruling BJP of “misusing” the name of Lord Rama in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to initiate action against it for “violating” the code of conduct for the polls.
Amid the ongoing electioneering in five Assembly poll-bound states, Raut flagged the issue of senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s poll promise that if the BJP was voted back to power in Madhya Pradesh it “would take all the voters in the state” free of cost to Ayodhya for darshan at the upcoming Lord Ram temple there,
Dubbing the BJP’s invocation of Lord Ram in its campaign was nothing but religious propaganda which was a “blatant” violation of poll conduct, Raut said: “I have heard the statements by Shah and other leaders saying that if their party is voted back to power in MP, they would facilitate a free of cost darshan of Lord Ram at Ayodhya. This is religious propaganda. This is a blatant violation of the poll conduct”.
Charging that the BJP was projecting that it had a monopoly over Lord Ram, Raut said: “This is disgusting. The entire Narendra Modi cabinet and BJP Central leadership is camping in MP. The BJP leaders are openly invoking Lord Ram’s name in their campaign to garner votes. The BJP is behaving as if it has a monopoly over Lord Ram. Lord Ram Lalla belongs to the entire country and world”.
“By saying that if their party is voted back to power in MP they would take all the people to Ram Mandir for a darshan at Ayodhya free of cost , they are implying that if the party loses power in the state that the people would be prevented from going to Ayodhya temple,” the Sena (UBT) leader said.
Accusing the BJP of indulging in “religious propaganda” and seeking to divide the people on the issue of Lord Ram, Raut said: “The BJP leaders should apologise to the Lord Ram and also the people across the country for undertaking a campaign on religious lines. The Election Commission should take serious cognisance of religious propaganda indulged in by the BJP in MP and take immediate action against the party”.
Scotching speculation about the losing tempo and lack of enthusiasm within the Opposition INDIA front, Raut said that once the Assembly polls in five states were over in December, the United Opposition leaders would sit across and hammer out “seat-sharing” arrangements in various states. “We will adopt a give-and-take formula in the seat-sharing process,” he said.