‘Do not become…’: Kiren Rijiju warns Hindus and Muslims against Congress, Rahul Gandhi in election season

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at the Congress party and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, for allegedly dividing the Hindus and appeasing the Muslims in elections. The Parliamentary Affairs minister alleged that the Congress party uses Muslims as a vote bank.

“During elections, the Congress says its 15 per cent vote share (Muslims) is reserved. This reflects the mindset of the party. It's quite well known that the Congress views Muslims as its vote bank... that's a huge loss for the Muslims,” Rijiju said in an interview with news agency IANS.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Sunday shared a clip of his interview on his X handle with a warning message to both Muslims and Hindus. The interview comes a day ahead of the results of assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. 

The exit polls have not indicated good results for the BJP in both elections.

“My warning to the Muslims: Do not become the vote bank of the Congress. My warning to Hindus & others: Do not become the victims of divide & rule Policies of the Congress Party,” the Minister said.

Muslim vote bank

He said the Congress believes that Muslims will always vote for it. "How can the Muslim community develop amid such a thought process?” he asked.

Rijiju, who is also the minority affairs minister, said a significant part of the Congress' planning has been to keep Muslims as its vote bank while dividing the Hindus.

“Rahul Gandhi does not even know the ABCD about the problems and issues faced by the people belonging to the SC, ST and OBCs. Yet, he keeps talking about SC, ST and OBCs all the time,” said Rijiju.

Exit polls predicted on Saturday that the Congress party is likely to wrest power from the BJP in Haryana after remaining in opposition for ten years. The pollsters have, however, predicted a hung house in Jammu and Kashmir, where the first assembly elections were held in a decade.