Jaipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a humiliating failure in Rajasthan’s Banswara, where PM Modi called Muslims 'infiltrators' and 'those who have more children', The News Minute reported.
Mahendrajeetsingh Malviya of the BJP lost to Rajkumar Roat of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) by a margin of 2,47,054 votes.
The margin that BAP candidate achieved outshines PM Modi’s own margin of 1, 52, 513 votes in Varanasi constituency.
A breakaway group from Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) in 2017, BAP made political entry in 2023 in the Rajasthan assembly polls and Roat is BAP’s MLA from Chaurasi.
Mahendrajeetsingh Malviya, who resigned as Congress MLA for Bagidora seat, joined the BJP to contest the Lok Sabha elections for Banswara.
BAP won the bypoll in Bagidora and the Lok Sabha elections in Banswara this time.
On April 21, PM Modi told a rally in Banswara claiming that the Congress as per its manifesto would snatch away gold belonging to mothers and sisters and distribute them among 'infiltrators' and 'those who have more children'.
It was alleged that he was clearly referring to Muslims when he made the allegations against the Congress.
He also claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims have the first right to the country’s assets.
Around 20,000 individuals including activists penned two letters to the Election Commission urging action against PM Modi.
The Congress filed a complaint with the ECI against PM Modi accusing him of using ‘religion and religious symbols to fuel animosity between communities’.
Despite the complaints, the Election Commission refused to serve notice to PM Modi, according to the report.