Inflammatory statements by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane targeting Muslims, the Eknath Shinde government’s support of controversial godman Mahant Ramgiri Maharaj, who allegedly made derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, and communal riots on the foothills of the Vishalgad fort in Kolhapur, indicate that the ruling coalition in Maharashtra may be shifting to a more hardline position on Hindutva. Implying that Muslims voted as a bloc for constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a bid to defeat the BJP-led Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha polls, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed there was a “vote jihad” in 14 of the 48 parliamentary constituencies in the state. Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, went on to claim that there were over a lakh cases of “love jihad”—a label for situations where the relationship of a Muslim man with a non-Muslim woman is alleged to be a ploy to convert her to Islam.
Ramgiri Maharaj, who has a following in parts of Marathwada and Ahmednagar district, made controversial statements against the prophet of Islam. Despite objections from Muslims, including former All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel’s ‘tiranga yatra’ to Mumbai from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Aurangabad protesting Ramgiri’s remarks, the seer was backed by CM Shinde. Nitesh Rane, son of former Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane, threatened to enter mosques and attack the seer’s critics. The junior Rane also called on Hindus to not sell their properties to non-Hindus.
In Kolhapur, Yuvraj Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, scion of the local royal family and a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, called for protests against the “encroachments” at the Vishalgad fort, which soon degenerated into violence against the households, properties and places of worship of Muslims. While Sambhajiraje is part of the ‘Parivartan Mahashakti’, a third front of smaller parties and farmers’ groups in Maharashtra, he is said to be close to the BJP and Shinde. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the central government in 2016.
A BJP leader says such statements are meant to retain the party’s core voters who were upset at the turn of events in the state, including the BJP’s alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with which it has traditionally been at loggerheads. “The nature of alliance politics has led to confusion in our cadre. They are unsure about their extent of contribution to the party due to the likelihood of their constituency going to an alliance partnerâ€æ Politics in Maharashtra has become ultra-casteist and party workers feel they have little future in electoral politics unless they belong to a politically-correct social group,” he adds.
This story was originally published in indiatoday.in. Read the full story here.
