New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of appeasement politics at a press conference in Jaipur on the last day of campaigning for the state polls.
He took aim at Gehlot for last year’s demolition of the gate to a Hanuman temple in Salasar that carried an idol of the Ram Darbar (reportedly done for a road-widening project), and the razing of a cow shelter and Shivling in Alwar (as part of an anti-encroachment drive) in 2022.
All three incidents have been a bone of contention since last year, with the Congress blaming the Salasar episode on the central government, and the latter two on BJP municipal officials.
On Thursday, Shah said Gehlot did not protect “Hindu believers in the state”, and accused him of “crossing all limits of appeasement by bulldozing the Ram Darbar, cow shelter and Shivling”.
“A bulldozer was used on Ram Darbar in Salasar, Shivling was broken with a drilling machine in Alwar, a bulldozer was used on a cow shed in Kathumar, many cases of such appeasement have been seen in Rajasthan,” he added.
He also said Gehlot had made a special effort to “protect rioters” involved in “planned riots” at Bhilwara, Karauli, Jodhpur, Chittorgarh and Jaipur, seeking to brand the CM “anti-Hindu” while projecting the BJP as the champion of the community.
“Appeasement politics”, he said, was at its peak under the Gehlot government.
Making a pitch for the BJP’s return in the state, Shah said Rajasthan had “always stood with Modi ji and supported the Bharatiya Janata Party”.
“The people of Rajasthan have always supported Modi ji by giving all the (Lok Sabha) seats to the BJP in 2014 and 2019,” he said.
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‘Magician’s govt will disappear’
Among other things, Shah took a jibe at the “magician (jadugar)” sobriquet associated with Gehlot in Rajasthan politics, a term the latter has attributed to his family’s involvement in magic.
When he came to campaign in Rajasthan, Shah said, “people said to me, ‘Gehlot is a jadugar and the election strategy should be made keeping in mind his jadugari’”.
Then, taking a jibe at the multiple paper leaks for government recruitment exams in the state, he added, “There have been more than 15 cases of paper leaks in Rajasthan. This has not happened anywhere in the country. Therefore, the public has made up its mind that this time they will become magicians and make the Congress government disappear. A BJP government is going to be formed on 3 December (results day).
Further targeting the government on the issue of corruption, Shah once again brought up the ‘red diary’ controversy, which is centred on a sacked state minister’s claim that he was in possession of a red diary that detailed the “Gehlot government’s corruption”.
The red diary of the Congress has become a symbol of corruption, Shah said, adding that “this time people were avoiding the colour red for diaries distributed during Diwali”.
Crime against women was also at a high in Rajasthan, he said, adding that “2 lakh cases of atrocities against women and 35,000 cases of rape have been registered in Rajasthan”.
“Everyday, 19 cases of rape are reported in Rajasthan and the state has become number one in crime against women,” he said.
‘BJP has done more for Rajasthan’
The Gehlot government’s “failure” to fulfil its promise of farm loan waivers, and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s tweet referring to PM Narendra Modi as “panauti (bad omen)” — as he sought to link his presence at the Narendra Modi stadium with India’s loss in the World Cup final — were other lines of attack.
“Whenever the Prime Minister has been attacked and derogatory words used against him, the people have responded… People of Rajasthan will respond to the derogatory words used against the Prime Minister during the campaign.”
With the Congress promising a caste census in its manifesto, Shah sought to attack the party for not taking steps for the upliftment of backward communities during its time in office.
“I have been asking the Congress a question for a long time, but it never answered. What did you do for Rajasthan when your government was at the Centre. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress government gave Rajasthan Rs 2 lakh crore,” he said.
“At the same time, the BJP gave Rs 8.7 lakh crore to Rajasthan in nine years. Along with this, works worth Rs 7 lakh crore have been done as central projects, such as upgradation of national highways, railway stations, laying of new railway lines, construction of a new greenfield airport in Kota with Rs 6,000 crore,” he added.
Pilot attack
A day after PM Modi sought to refer to the Congress’ “humiliation” of former Union minister Rajesh Pilot in a bid to appeal to the state’s Gurjar voters, Shah attempted to play up the rivalry between Gehlot and Rajesh Pilot’s son Sachin Pilot, the former deputy CM.
Gehlot had Thursday attacked the BJP for dragging Rajesh Pilot’s name to get Gurjar votes. “During the BJP government, 22 Gurjars were killed and Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla protested for several days. Now they are remembering Gurjars,” he added. “I have given them reservation and now their kin are getting the benefit of reservation.”
Shah said Thursday “Gehlot saheb was mistakenly viewing everything through the prism of caste”.
“His only aim is to install his son Vaibhav Gehlot. He should speak two good words for Sachin Pilot too,” he added.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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