JAIPUR: Ahead of Rajasthan polls scheduled to be held this year-end, the top BJP leadership is going all out to woo the voters. On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the tribal-dominated Mewar region where he said that the Gehlot government runs on riots, atrocities against women, and Dalits.
On the Kanhaiyalal murder case, Shah argued that if the case had been heard in a special court, the perpetrators would have been hanged by now.
Further, he criticized Chief Minister Gehlot's alleged inaction and politicization of the Kanhaiyalal murder case and the Jaipur bomb blast case.
Shah questioned the lack of security provided to Kanhaiyalal and pointed out the alleged corruption within the Rajasthan Secretariat.
MEWAR
The Mewar region, which is politically significant due to its proximity to Gujarat, includes districts like Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Chittorgarh. Historically, tribals have been a loyal vote bank for the Congress party, but now the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is also gaining influence, causing concerns for the BJP.
While addressing the tribal community, Shah reminded the gathering that Draupadi Murmu, a tribal woman from a poor background, was elevated by Prime Minister Modi. He also highlighted the BJP's efforts in building schools for tribal children and increasing the budget for the Tribal Ministry.
Shah took a dig at the "opposition unity" saying that the 21 parties that gathered in Patna last week "want to make Rahul Baba the Prime Minister to indulge in corruption.
If Rahul becomes the Prime Minister then scams and corruption will become the destiny of India.
If Modi becomes the Prime Minister again, the corrupt will go behind bars."
He further added that "the target of 21 parties is the future of their sons. Sonia Gandhi aims to make Rahul the Prime Minister, Lalu Yadav aims to make son Tejashwi the CM, Mamta Banerjee aims to make nephew Abhishek the CM and Ashok Gehlot aims to make his son Vaibhav the CM."
Shah claimed that the honour bestowed upon Prime Minister Modi at the G-7 summit was not only for him or the BJP but for the people of Mewar, Rajasthan, and the entire nation.
Shah-Gehlot trade charges over Kanhaiyalal beheading.
Home Minister Amit Shah's rally in Udaipur has ignited a row as he claimed that "the Gehlot government did not even want to catch the killers of Kanhaiyalal. They were caught by the NIA."
This statement drew a sharp counter from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who hit back and accused Shah of lying.
Taking to Twitter, Gehlot said that "Kanhaiyalal's killers Riyaz Attari and Gaus Mohammad were caught by the Rajasthan Police within 4 hours. The incident took place on June 28, while the probe into the matter was handed over to the NIA on July 2." Gehlot also made public the order handing over the investigation to the NIA by tweeting it.
Addressing the gathering, Home Minister Amit Shah said that "Gehlot is doing politics even on the Kanhaiyalal murder case in Udaipur. Gehlot didn't even want to catch the killers, NIA caught them and Gehlot lies that no action was taken. I say that if the hearing was held in the special court, the killers would have been hanged. Not only this, the Advocate General of the Gehlot government does not have time to hear the accused in the Jaipur blast."
On this statement of Shah, Gehlot tweeted- "It is expected that people sitting in responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism, but what Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act."
Gehlot also asserted that "both the killers were active workers of BJP. They should get an inquiry done about who were the BJP leaders who helped these two, who used to call the police stations for them. In an open and shut case, why did it take so long for the charge sheet to be filed and why have they not been punished yet?"
This entire spat relates to the horrific incident in Udaipur district last year when two Muslim youths had beheaded a tailor Kanhaiya Lal for openly expressing his support for Nupur Sharma the former BJP leader who had made offensive remarks against Prophet Muhammad.