"The BJP lost despite the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah tried hard," Sanjay Raut said. "BJP lost Jharkhand from its hand. After Maharashtra, this is another state that BJP has lost. The way a new law (CAA) was enacted, it did not benefit BJP," Raut added. He said that although Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Delhi helped in clearing out doubts on CAA, clarification should have happened in the parliament itself, he said.
Watch | CAA, NRC did not help BJP in Jharkhand, says Sanjay Raut
The 57-year-old firebrand Rajya Sabha member has of late been taking aim at the BJP, with which the Sena recently severed ties. In the backdrop of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday launched a veiled attack on the BJP by quoting words of late American leader Martin Luther King. If politics creates religious issues, then one should know the country is being run by wrong people, Raut said while attributing the comment to the legendary civil rights leader.
Amid nationwide protests against the amended citizenship law, the opposition parties, including the Congress, have been accusing the BJP-led central government of dividing the country in the name of religion. The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed earlier this month by Parliament and became an Act after President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to it.
The new law seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India before December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
(with inputs from PTI)