BJP took people for granted, failed to polarise: Sena on Jharkhand verdict

PTI, Dec 24, 2019, 1:00 PM IST

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said the BJP faced defeat in the Jharkhand Assembly polls because it took people for granted.

It said Union Home Minister Amit Shah felt that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would increase the Hindu voter percentage, but labourers and tribals in Jharkhand rejected the BJP.

The JMM-led three-party alliance stormed to power in Jharkhand on Monday, ousting the BJP in yet another state in the Hindi heartland.

The BJP’s loss in Jharkhand comes close on the heels of its “defeat” in Maharashtra, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed government in Maharashtra last month after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party parted ways with pre-poll ally BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, over sharing the chief ministerial post.

“In Haryana also, the Congress bounced back, but the BJP held on to power by taking along (Jannayak Janta Party leader) Dushyant Chautala against whom the saffron party had fought elections,” the Shiv Sena noted.

Once people decide to ensure change in government, they don’t fall prey to “pressures of power and money”, the Thackeray-led party said.

“The BJP’s mentality is not to introspect results. When you take people for granted, what else can happen,” the Marathi publication said.

It also criticised BJP president Amit Shah, alleging that all his campaign speeches were “attempts to polarise Hindu and Muslim voters”.

“With the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, he felt the Hindu vote percentage would increase. But, Jharkhand’s labour and tribal voters ousted the BJP,” it said.

In 2018, the BJP ruled 75 per cent of states in the country, whereas now it is in power in just about 30 to 35 per cent of them, the Sena claimed.

The BJP ruled 22 states in 2018 and came to power even in Tripura and Mizoram, it observed.

“But, the situation in Tripura today is such that if elections are held, the BJP will be defeated given the way violence has erupted there against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” the Sena said.