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India to meet same fate as Pakistan if BJP tries to convert it into ‘Hindu Rashtra’: Gehlot
India would meet the same fate as that of Pakistan if the ruling BJP tries to turn the country into a “Hindu Rashtra”, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot cautioned on Thursday.
India would meet the same fate as that of Pakistan if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tries to turn the country into a “Hindu Rashtra”, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot cautioned on Thursday.
He also claimed that reports of some Congress leaders leaving the party to join the BJP in Gujarat could be a “blessing in disguise”.
The senior Congress leader, who is also the party’s senior observer for the Gujarat assembly elections likely to be held later this year, was on a two-day visit to the state.
“Many people, such as activists and journalists, have been jailed by the BJP across the country. They are fascist, who are winning elections only on the issue of religion. Otherwise, BJP does not have any ideology, policy or governance model,” Gehlot told reporters in Ahmedabad.
He cautioned that “India would meet the same fate as Pakistan if the BJP tries to turn the country into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’”.
Responding to a question of several Congress legislators and senior leaders quitting the party in Gujarat, Gehlot said: “If some leaders are leaving the party, it could be a blessing in disguise. New faces will get an opportunity to rise in the cadre.”
In the last five years, at least 14 sitting Congress legislators in Gujarat have and joined the BJP. A similar number of Congress leaders had quit the party and joined BJP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections as well.
In 2020-21, eight turncoat MLAs were re-nominated on the BJP symbol in bypolls and got elected to the assembly.
In the 182-member legislative assembly, the BJP won 99 seats, while the Congress bagged 77 seats in the 2017 Gujarat elections.
“When (former PM) Indira Gandhi was defeated in 1977, people used to say this party will never come to power. I was with the NSUI at that time,” said Ghelot. “Some had quit the party, but I stayed on because I believed in it. As a result, today I am the chief minister of a state. If you believe in a party, stay loyal to it in bad times, you will surely be rewarded.”
He also attacked the ruling party, saying the BJP’s Gujarat model was not working.
“The BJP’s Gujarat model of development lies exposed and the ruling party has failed to meet people’s expectations. The party got re-elected (in 2017) due to the support of Congress leaders who joined the saffron party,” he claimed.
This time, however, things will be different, said Gehlot while sounding confident that the Congress will win the assembly elections later this year and form the government in Gujarat.
During his two-day visit, Gehlot on Wednesday addressed party workers and leaders of Central Gujarat in Vadodara during a “My Booth My Pride” event.
Responding to Gehlot’s statements, Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas said the Congress should first put its house in order before trying to find fault with others, especially the BJP that has been elected by the residents of the state for six times in the last two-and-a-half decades for its “all-round development works”.
“Congress leaders have lost touch not only with the masses but with their own leaders. The people of this state know and have seen the success of the Gujarat model of development,” said Vyas. “We have seen how the Congress leadership has been anti-Gujarat all these years.”
