BJP leaders set to ‘carpet-bomb’ key poll states

The BJP is facing two tough electoral battles in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab next year, and it intends to go in for “major carpet bombing” as its leaders will pour into these two electorally challenging states.

In Delhi, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel is getting a boondi laddoo weighing 731 kg as the government completes 731 days in power. For Mr Goel this will be the “prasad” of the Modi government. The 731-kg laddoo, with Lord Ganesha carved on it, will be dsitributed to citizens across the city. Besides this, several ministries are busy distributing documents and brochures listing their achievements.

On Tuesday, minister of state for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, listing his ministry’s achievements, said the faith of the minorities in Mr Modi had strengthened. Citing home ministry figures, he said that communal riots had “gone down by 82 per cent”, while detailing various schemes under his ministry that have benefited the minorities. He also said that the minorities’ share in Central government jobs had also risen “substantially under the Modi government”.

The Modi government had come under severe criticism over “intolerance” and the violence it was leading to, including the Dadri lynching. “The mantra of the government for minorities has been education, prosperity and security. That is why their share, especially that of Muslims, in Central government jobs has gone up to 8.7 per cent from 6.91 per cent in 2013-14 under the UPA,” Mr Naqvi said.

Comparing the communal riots data with that under the UPA government, Mr Naqvi said while there were 823 and 144 communal riots in 2013 and 2014 respectively, in which 113 and 94 persons had died, the figure went down to 64 in 2015 and one in 2016. He claimed while three persons had died in communal riots in 2015, one had been killed so far this year.

“The incidents of communal riots have gone down by 82 per cent,” the minister said, and tried to play down the controversial comments by some saffron leaders.