Nagpur: Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar sparked a row with his ‘controversial’ remarks against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ wife Amruta Fadnavis stoking strong condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Targeting Deputy CM Fadnavis over his “Dharamyuddh” remark, Kanhaiya Kumar took a jibe and that the job of saving ‘dharma’ should be of everyone, and it should not be like people are saving the religion and Deputy CM’s wife is “making reels on Instagram.”
“Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that this is a ‘Dharamyudh’. This is a good thing. It is our Dharam to protect the democracy and the constitution for which I am standing and giving a speech today. Whichever leader talks about saving religion, you have to ask only one thing to that leader who is giving you speech about saving religion that will your son or daughter join us in this fight to save religion?” Kanhaiya said during a public rally in Nagpur on Wednesday.
“Will this happen that the responsibility of saving the religion will be ours and your children will study in Oxford Cambridge universities. If we want to save religion, let us save it together. It can’t be like we save religion and the Deputy Chief Minister’s wife makes reels on Instagram. It can’t be like that. Everyone will save the religion together,” he added.
Last week, Devendra Fadnavis while campaigning for Mahayuti candidates for the upcoming assembly polls, said that “Vote-Jihad” should be countered by “Dharma-Yuddha” of the vote.
Kanhaiya’s remarks drew strong criticism from the BJP. Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called Kanhaiya “Naxali Afzal Guru Samarthak” and said his remarks are an insult to all the Marathi women.
“Hey you Naxali Afzal Guru supporter Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar. How dare you insult a daughter of Maharashtra. Amruta Fadnavis’ insult is an insult of each and every Marathi woman. Those using terms like ‘rejected maal’, ‘imported maal’ will be taught a lesson by the people of Maharashtra,” Poonawalla stated in a post on X.
Meanwhile, the campaigning has intensified for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra with both the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) making efforts to woo the electorate.
The polls are scheduled for November 20 and counting will be held on November 23.
In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena secured 56, and Congress 44. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, MVA posed a strong performance winning 30 of 48 seats, while the Mahayuti could only win 17.