Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane has sparked a major row after he labelled Kerala as “mini-Pakistan”. After the backlash, he said Kerala is very much a part of India, but he was pointing out the decreasing population of Hindus in the state, which is something everyone should worry about.
Addressing a public function at Purandar in Pune on Sunday, Mr. Rane said, “Kerala is mini Pakistan, that is why Rahul Gandhi and his sister are elected from there. All Terrorists vote for them. This is the truth, you can ask. They have become MPs after taking terrorists with them.”
A day after the statement made by the Maharashtra fisheries and ports minister, the Congress party questioned if he was eligible to become a minister. Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “Nitesh Rane became the minister in Maharashtra by swearing to keep the unity and integrity of the country intact. But this minister is terming Kerala as Pakistan and terms the voters of the Opposition as terrorists. Does this person have a right to remain in the Cabinet? The BJP and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should come out and clarify their stand on the issue,” said Londhe.
Mr. Rane, who is a third-time MLA from the Kankavali assembly constituency, was elected for the first time in 2014 as a Congress candidate. He is the younger son of former chief minister Narayan Rane, who later served as a cabinet minister in the Congress-led governments from 2005 to 2014. His elder brother Nilesh was a Congress MP representing the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency from 2009 to 2014.
Senior Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar, who was among the nine Shiv Sena MLAs to join the Congress from Shiv Sena in 2005 along with Narayan Rane, said that the eligibility criteria of the ministers in the Mahayuti government seem to be creating animosity within communities and using inflammatory language. “Nitesh Rane’s language is nothing but an attack on the Indian identity and terming voters of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi as terrorists is an insult to voters,” he said.
As the controversy escalated, Nitesh Rane tried to justify his comments saying, “Kerala is very much part of India. But everyone should be worried about the decreasing population of Hindus in that state. The religious conversion of Hindus has become an everyday thing there.”
