The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Rajasthan’s Banswara suffered a major defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections by a margin of 2,47,054 votes from the winner Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP).
On June 4, the saffron party’s candidate, Mahendrajeetsingh Malviya, lost to Rajkumar Roat of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), by a margin of 2,47,054 votes.
This is the same constituency where Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a communal speech on, April 21, referring to the Muslim minorities as ‘infiltrators’ and ‘those who have more children’. He also cited former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh that the “first right to the country’s resources should go to the minorities.”
“Tum use chhinane ki baat kar rahe ho apne manifesto mein. Gold le lenge, aur sabko vitrit kar denge. Aur pehele jab unki sarkar thi to unhone kaha tha, ki desh ki sampatti par pehela adhikar Musalmano ka hai. Iska matlab, ye sampatti ikhatti karke kisko batenge…..jinke jyada bacche hai unko batenge…Ghuspaithiyo ko batenge. Kya apki mehenat ki kamayi ka paisa ghuspaithiyo ko diya jayega….Apko manzur hai ye…” reads an excerpt from the speech delivered by Modi in Banswara.
The English translation reads, “You [Congress] are referring to grabbing of that [gold and property] in your manifesto…They will take the gold and distribute it to all. When their [Congress] government was there, they had said that Muslims have the first right over the country’s property. Whom they [Congress] will distribute to after accumulating the property? They will give to people who have more children … will your hard earned money be given to infiltrators… Do you accept it?“
The Prime Minister’s communal speech was a direct violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which refrains candidates and political parties from campaigning in the name of religion. However, it took the election commission four days to take action, after the second phase of polling concluded on April 26.
BJP’s candidate who was earlier a Congress MLA jumped ship to the saffron party to contest as an MP. However, the efforts went in vain.
