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After Udaipur killing, BJP plans to ‘highlight growing attacks on Hindus in Gehlot’s Rajasthan’

BJP central leadership has sought a report on the Udaipur incident from its Rajasthan unit, which is learnt to be preparing a list of 'communal incidents in the state'.

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New Delhi: The BJP is preparing to launch a campaign over what it describes as the deteriorating law-and-order situation in Congress-governed Rajasthan. The aim is to turn the heat on the state’s Ashok Gehlot government over the brutal murder of a Hindu shopkeeper in Udaipur by suspected Muslim fundamentalists.

The party’s central leadership has sought a report on the Udaipur incident from its Rajasthan unit, which is preparing a list of “communal incidents in the state”, BJP functionaries told ThePrint.

The BJP, which is the opposition in Rajasthan, has called the Udaipur murder part of “a big conspiracy” linked with “international terror organisations”.

A senior BJP functionary said “communal violence against Hindus” in the state will be the party’s main agenda for next year’s assembly elections.

Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia added: “The chief minister talks eloquently about peace and harmony in his speeches and tweets but he indulges in Hindu-Muslim politics. During Ram Navmi, he prohibited the juloos (procession) but at the same time gave permission to a rally by the Popular Front of India (PFI). Such incidents send out the wrong message to the Hindu community,”

Poonia shared a hashtag #Hindulivesmatter after the Udaipur killing, which is believed to have been triggered by a social media post.

“This attack is not only against Kanhaiya Lal (the victim) but against the entire Hindu community. If this trend does not stop, the people of Rajasthan will not wait for the 2023 elections and will vote the government out,” Poonia said.

BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a Member of Parliament from Jaipur Rural, called the Udaipur incident a “terrorist attack” that the chief minister is “trying to pass off as just another murder”.

This is being done to terrorise the entire society, Rathore told ThePrint, calling for a thorough investigation into who was “patronising such terrorists and extremists” in the state.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the press after a high-level meeting in the state that the Rajasthan Police had booked the two suspects under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), adding that the killing was meant to spread terror.

“Information has also surfaced that the killers have contacts abroad,” he said.

“A high-level review meeting was held today on the Udaipur incident. Police officials said preliminary investigation has revealed that the incident was prima facie done to spreading terror” Gehlot said in a tweet after the meeting.


Also Read: Udaipur tailor was arrested weeks before murder, sought police protection citing threats


‘Conspiracy’ 

The unnamed senior BJP functionary quoted above said “law and order in Rajasthan has been deteriorating over the past few years and communal violence against the Hindu community has been increasing”. The party, the functionary added, will demand Gehlot’s resignation.

Poonia said the party intends to lend its support to “social organisations” in order to highlight how the Hindu community is no longer safe in the state.

“We are speaking to the authorities regarding this particular incident and all that has happened in the past few years — whether it’s mob lynching of a Hindu man, or when stones were hurled at Kanwariyas,” Poonia added.

“If necessary, we’ll take up these issues with the governor too. Currently, as a party, we are looking into the situation. If any NGO or any social organisation [decides to] raise these issues, we’ll offer them our full support,” Poonia said.

The state BJP president claimed that the Udaipur killing wasn’t just a simple murder — it was a “big conspiracy”. “For such a small and insignificant Facebook post, they have murdered someone. This is nothing but a way to scare the people of the state,” Poonia said.

He said it’s “unfortunate that Gehlot has been continuously saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come forward and ask for peace to be maintained”.

“This is a Congress-governed state and it is the responsibility of the chief minister and the home minister. This isn’t a mere murder and [it’s] certainly not normal,” he added.

With PTI inputs 

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)


Also Read: ‘My husband employed Muslims’ — Kanhaiya Lal’s family now wants same fate for perpetrators


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