As polls show AAP’s rise, BJP turns to Hindutva

New Delhi: With opinion polls and reports indicating that the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal has an edge in the forthcoming Delhi polls, the BJP has fallen back on its nationalist plank to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. The top leaders of the party ranging from home minister Amit Shah to information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar have begun evoking Pakistan to woo the voters. The saffron camp is trying to project that the Delhi elections was actually a contest between India and Pakistan.

On Friday, Mr Javdekar, also BJP’s election in-charge for Delhi, speaking to the media said that the voters in the national capital need to decide on whether they want “Jinnah wali azadi or Bharat Mata ki jai.”  On Thursday, the home minister said that Mr Kejriwal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan “speak the same language.” Kapil Mishra, BJP candidate from Model Town, had earlier tweeted that the Delhi election was a contest  between “India and Pakistan.”

Referring to Shaheen Bagh’s anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Mr Javedkar said : “We have seen ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’ slogan being raised there. Now, Delhi people need to decide if they want ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’ or ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.”

The Union minister blamed the AAP and the Congress for instigating violent protests against the CAA in the national capital. “Delhi people should ask both the parties why did they instigate violence…? The nexus of AAP and Congress is behind the Shaheen Bagh protest. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have supported the protest. Mr Kejriwal sympathises with people raising ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’ slogans and not with the persecuted minorities in Pakiatan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” he said.

Mr Javadekar blamed AAP and Congress for misleading and poisoning the minds of the minorities, including children. He asserted that the CAA was not going to affect citizenship of any Indian and blamed that political parties were raising the bogey of CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) to defeat the BJP in the elections. “The CAA is aimed at providing citizenship to persecuted minorities including Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” he added.

Addressing a Nukkad Sabha in the Lakshmi Nagar constituency, BJP president J.P. Nadda alleged that the Congress and the AAP were misleading people on the citizenship law.