New Delhi: Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said stoking communal fires in the name of Shriram is an insult to the very “idea of Lord Ram”.
Raut in his weekly column “Rokhthok” in Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said even Lord Ram will be restless over the developments in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone, where communal clashes on Ram Navami led to the imposition of curfew, PTI reported.
The Shiv Sena MP accused the saffron party of adopting a strategy of sowing religious discord to win the elections.
“If someone wants to stoke the fire of fundamentalism and disturb the peace to win elections, they are sowing seeds of a second Partition,” Raut, the executive editor of ‘Saamana’, wrote in his weekly column.
Raut while referring to communal clashes in various parts of the country on Ram Navami earlier on April 10 said that it was not a good sign.
“Earlier, Ram Navami processions were all about culture and religion. But now swords are brandished and communal discord is created. Ruckus was created outside mosques resulting in violence,” he alleged.
Taking a jibe at the BJP, the Shiv Sena leader said those who abandoned the Ram Mandir movement midway are now displaying swords in the name of Lord Ram.
“This cannot be called Hindutva. Stoking communal fires in name of Lord Ram is an insult to the idea of Ram,” Raut said.
“Even Lord Ram will be restless over the developments in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone,” he added.
The Shiv Sena MP pointed out that cultural processions were taken out in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, on Gudhi Padwa earlier on April 2 marking the Hindu and Marathi New Year, but there was no violence even after these processions passed through Muslim localities.
“There was no violence. Why should all the violence happen on Ram Navami? Can anyone believe Muslims will hurl stones at a Ram Navami procession in Gujarat, the home state of PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah?” he asked referring to the violence in Sabarkantha.
Raut accused Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray of implementing the BJP's agenda.