Hindutva a way of life and not religious rituals: Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Hindutva is a way of life and not religious rituals.

 “BJP’s Hindutva is a way of life and not related to religious rituals. Muslims have different religious rituals. One should not have a narrow-minded view of Hindutva,” Fadnavis said.

Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘ek hai toh safe hai’ (together, we are safe) slogan and schemes like the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’, for the massive mandate the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance got in the assembly elections, he said through his actions, PM Modi has shown what inclusive Hindutva is.

“Those who used to be scared of going to temples for fear of losing Muslim votes, are now frequently visiting them,” he said, without naming Rahul Gandhi.

Fadnavis also criticized the opposition’s election strategies, accusing them of leveraging religious platforms for political gain. The Maharashtra Chief Minister said that Hindutva played an important role and counter-polarisation also helped the Mahayuti score the thumping victory.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was done with foreign funding of forces working to destabilise India, he said and defended his call for “dharma yudh of votes” to counter an appeal by an Islamic scholar for “vote-Jihad” against the Mahayuti alliance.

“If anyone speaks of vote jihad, we will indulge in dharma yudh of votes,” Fadnavis said.

“Hindutva is in our blood. It doesn’t need a poster boy. Hindus don’t discriminate. Modi did development and didn’t discriminate,” Fadnavis said.

On Yogi Adityanath’s “batenge toh katenge” slogan, Fadnavis said, “it looks nice in English”.

He also slammed the opposition for casting doubts on electronic voting machines (EVMs). “When they win, they don’t speak against EVMs, but after losing any election, they start crying against EVMs,” he said.