As campaigning picks up, candidates try 'polarising' trick in Rajasthan

Swami Balmukund Acharya, the BJP candidate from Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal today held a presser, talking about temples being destroyed, idols being desecrated, Hindu girls being lured and converted and cows being killed and the appeasement policy of the present Congress government.

Jaipur: With campaigning on full mode in Rajasthan in the run-up to the elections on November 25, candidates are trying their best to get into the limelight - relying on shocking statements to polarise the field.

Swami Balmukund Acharya, the BJP candidate from Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal today held a presser here, talking about temples being destroyed, idols being desecrated, Hindu girls being lured and converted and cows being killed and the appeasement policy of the present Congress government.

Acharya was driving home the point that the Old City of Jaipur is now becoming bereft of Hindus as they are migrating to ‘safer places’. And the area is being taken over by the minorities. He backed his claims by saying his in-depth research of three constituencies of Jaipur: Hawa Mahal, Kishanpole and Adarsh Nagar has put forth these facts. He talked about a 300-year-old Shiva temple in the Old City, which has been destroyed and taken over by anti-social elements. He had actually run a social media campaign for the temple, which perhaps earned him the BJP ticket.

The constituency, within the four walls of the Old City, is already tense with the killing of a 20-year-old youth from a minority community in an accident.

Muslim voters account for more than 34 per cent of the electorate in this constituency.

In 2018, Dr Mahesh Joshi from Congress won the seat. Dr Joshi, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s loyalist, however, could not get the ticket this time. R R Tiwari is the Congress candidate from Hawa Mahal this time.