Gehlot hails Cong's win in RS polls, says BJP dividing people on basis of religion

New Delhi [India], June 12 (ANI): Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for 'dividing people on the basis of religion', amid the ongoing row over the suspended BJP spokesperson's remarks against religious minorities.
"We won't compromise with our (Congress party) ideology. BJP is dividing people on the basis of religion. Riots are being incited not only in big cities but also in small towns. We are still a national party even though our numbers have dwindled in the Parliament," the Chief Minister said while addressing reporters in the national capital.
Protests erupted in various states including Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad made by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal. Notably, some Gulf nations expressed outrage against the controversial remarks against the Prophet. The country has been witnessing protests.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked the police heads of states and Union Territories to be prepared and alert as they will be on target. MHA issued a statement to all state and Union Territory police after several incidents of violence. A senior MHA official informed that they sent alerts to all state and Union Territory police to remain vigilant as they can be targeted during the violence.
Speaking to reporters further today, Gehlot appreciated the efforts of the Congress party workers in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections and said, "This is for the third time that we have trumped the BJP. It will happen many times in the coming 1.5 years. NDA government and PM Modi's target is Rajasthan and its CM. They fomented crisis and tried to do horse-trading."
In the Rajya Sabha elections held on June 10, Congress won three of the four seats in Rajasthan. After the party's big win, newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala had attacked the BJP and had called the mandate a 'defeat of the powers who wanted to trade Rajasthan's self-respect.'
Lashing out at the BJP, Surjewala said, "This is the defeat of those powers who wanted to buy Rajasthan's self-respect in vote market, disrupt current state government, run a bulldozer on democracy, defeat a majority government. The people of Rajasthan have shown truth has triumphed, whereas money and muscle power, income tax, ED, black money lost."
Fearing horse-trading at the hands of the BJP, Congress had shifted all its MLAs to Taj Aravali hotel in Udaipur on June 3. Meanwhile, the BJP won three of the four seats in Karnataka, all two seats in Haryana and three out of six seats in Maharashtra. (ANI)