The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Amit Malviya on Thursday attacked the Congress party on X, sharing a viral video that showed a poster of Naseem Khan, Congress candidate from Mumbai’s Chandivali constituency, stuck on a picture of Lord Ganesha.
Hitting out at the Congress party, Malviya called it ‘the new Muslim League’.
Malviya accused the Congress party of insulting the Hindu community and said, ‘Ganpati Bappa is revered as Vighnharta (Remover of Obstacles) and Maharashtrians, among others, have a deep emotional attachment to the deity. We have all seen the massive celebrations in Mumbai during Ganeshotsav,’ he added.
The BJP leader saw the incident as the Congress party’s attempt to appease Muslim voters. ‘This act of defiling Ganpati Bappa is premeditated and meant as a signal to Muslims in the region to vote for the Congress. Mumbai is seeing the worst kind of Vote Jihad since partition. Congress is the new Muslim League,’ he said.
In the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Congress has fielded ex-MLA Naseem Khan from Mumbai’s Chandivali constituency. Naseem represented the constituency in the Maharashtra Assembly between 2009 and 2019. He is pitted against incumbent MLA and Shiv Sena candidate Dilip Lande.
All 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra will vote on November 20 to elect their MLAs. The counting of votes will take place on November 23.