The votes of four state assembly elections in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are being counted by the Election Commission of India today, 3 December. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is comfortably wing three of these four states, while Congress is set to win Telangana. In the assembly elections in Rajasthan where the BJP is defeating the ruling Congress, BJP’s Udaipur candidate Tarachand Jain defeated Congress’s Gaurav Vallabh by over 32,000 votes. The brutal murder of Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal by Islamists was one of the topics touched on by the BJP during campaigning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began campaigning for Rajasthan’s Assembly Election from Udaipur. During his address at the political rally in Chittorgarh, he mentioned Kanhaiya Lal’s murder, putting Congress in a tough spot. He accused the Congress party of doing appeasement. Furthermore, PM Modi spoke about the Kanhaiya Lal murder case during election rallies in Madhya Pradesh as well.
On 2nd October, he slammed Congress during a speech in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district and said, “Did you ever imagine something like what happened in Udaipur? Such a big sin took place in Rajasthan, which has the tradition of not attacking even the enemy by deceit. The murderers come on the pretext of getting clothes sewn, cut the tailor’s neck without fear, and then proudly make the video go viral. And the Congress government is even worried about the vote bank.” He also reiterated the statement during his rally in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
BJP won Udaipur by 32,000 votes
As per final results announced on EC’s website BJP’s Tarachand Jain received 97,466 votes, defeating Congress’s Gaurav Vallabh by 32,771 who got 64,695 votes. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Manoj Labana gave a “surprise” with 348 votes. In 2018, BJP’s Gulab Chand Kataria defeated Congress’s Girija Vyas by 9,324 votes. While Kataria got 74,808, Vyas managed to get 65,484 votes. However, this time BJP swept the constituency comfortably with over 32,000 votes.
Apart from BJP and Congress, all other candidates polled less than 1000 votes. NOTA received the third highest votes with 1579 voters choosing to not choose any candidate.
Kanhaiya Lal murder case
On 28th June 2022, Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered by two Islamists, Mohammed Riyaz Attari and Gaus Mohammed. They filmed the heinous crime and circulated the video online. The murder was allegedly motivated by a social media post by Kanhaiya Lal in support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Following the bar, he received threats and calls for his arrest.
On 15th June 2022, Lal reportedly filed a complaint with the local police seeking protection. However, the police did not take any concrete action, and he was left vulnerable. Kanhaiya Lal kept the shop shut for a few days after receiving threats. Eventually, he had to open the shop, which led to the attack. The two Islamists were arrested soon after the murder and charged with premeditated murder and criminal conspiracy. Their trial is currently ongoing.
Mohammed Zubair used social media to target Nupur Sharma
His murder sent shockwaves across India, highlighting the dangers of social media and the rapid spread of misinformation. It has to be noted that Nupur Sharma was targeted for a reply she gave to Islamic panellist Taslim Ahmed Rehmani during a debate on Times Now. Notably, Sharma got irked by derogatory comments by Rehmani against Bhagwan Shiv.
Fake news peddler Mohammed Zubair of Alt News trimmed the video, removing Rehmani’s comment, and published Sharma’s comment as “speech against Prophet Mohammed”, triggering Islamists worldwide. Sharma was subsequently suspended from the party and has been under police protection since then. However, the actual culprit, Taslim Ahmed Rehmani, is roaming free and participating in debates now and then. Zubair continued to target other Hindu leaders with his vile propaganda.
