Former Union Minister Salman Khurshid's niece, Maria Alam Khan, sparked a row on Tuesday after a video of her in which she can be heard urging voters to do 'vote jihad' while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad went viral on social media. As per reports, Maria was seeking votes for Samajwadi Party candidate Naval Kishore Shakya.
"...Come together and do vote jihad. Only vote jihad can stop the BJP. It deeply saddens me to hear that some Muslim men helped Mukesh Rajput conduct a meeting here. I feel society should stop their bread and butter. Don't become so selfish and play with your children's lives. Today, so many people are behind bars for protesting against CAA, and NRC. I am happy to inform you that Salman Khurshid saheb is fighting their cases. We are fighting for you, without your support we won't be able to do anything...this time vote wisely to save India to save its culture and Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb," said Maria during her speech.
Watch the video here:
Soon after her speech, its video went viral with BJP slamming Maria for her divisive politics.
Reacting to the video, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said, "Elections is the festival of democracy but, these people (Opposition parties) think its jihad. We are with people during this elections but they are with jihadis. Samajwadi Party even tried to release these jihadis. Today it is clear that the INDIA bloc manifesto is the Muslim League manifesto and this shows Muslim League manifestation. The Election Commission must take action on this."
BJP's Sreenivas Solanky, reacting to the video said, "The @samajwadiparty leader is advocating for "Vote Jihad" under the guise of protecting Ganga-Jamni Tahzeeb is utterly shameful. Using religion for political gain is unacceptable & undermines the fabric of our democracy but now no independent journalist will question her!"
"Shaming Muslims for supporting a non-Muslim is a recipe for building an Islamic Caliphate. And the Congress claims to be ‘secular’. If an educated Salman Khurshid’s extended family is so radicalised, one can imagine the plight of ordinary Muslims. This is not to suggest that Salman Khurshid is any better but he does manage to hide his bigotry behind the glib talk. Muslims need to be saved from Muslim leaders if they have to progress and emerge from their ghettos," said Amit Malviya.
Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on May 13 in Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
