The chief of the Goa unit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Rajendra Bhobe, has expressed “concerns” over the rising number of Muslim voters in the state. Addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he urged them not to view Muslims as a vote bank and discouraged the inclusion of voters from other states in local electoral lists, Muslim Mirror reported.
Bhobe while addressing the gathering said, “Muslims who have come to Goa for work should vote in their respective states. The increase in Muslim voters will have an impact on assembly election results in Goa.”
According to TOI, after the political development and change in regime in Bangladesh, Hindus were attacked in that country, the Goa RSS chief said at a rally to condemn the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh. “Their houses have been burned, their businesses have been looted, and Hindu women have to face atrocities,” he said.
Bhobe said that this is not the first time, but similar atrocities have been witnessed in the last 500 years against Hindus. “Hindus are sleeping. Will we continue to sleep? In our country, there are many pockets where there is a possibility of becoming another Pakistan if we continue to remain inactive,” he said.
Highlighting the issue of viewing Muslims as a vote bank, Bhobe said, “If we have to live as Hindus, then we have to implement some things.” He noted a decline in the Hindu population in Bangladesh, from 23% during its formation to around 7% currently.
“In the next 10 to 20 years, Hindus will be eliminated from Bangladesh,” he predicted.
In Goa, Bhobe pointed out the migration of many Muslims into the state, stating, “According to our constitution, we cannot prevent anyone from going to any state, but the government and NGOs need to collect data.”
In the 2022 assembly elections, Muslim voters constituted 7.5% of the total 11.5 lakh voters, he noted.
He said that in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the environment was such that we thought that BJP would have a clean sweep, but BJP did not sweep the election and from 302 seats they reduced to 241 seats.
“The reason behind it is Hindus remain dormant and overconfident as the Ram Mandir, Article 370 and triple talaq issues were resolved and govt took economic measures and all considered that BJP would cross 400 seats,” the Goa RSS chief said.
He said that in Goa, it was 72% voting, but what was the Hindu voting percentage? “Overall voting was 72%. Minority voting was 90%. The same situation was in UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan,” Bhobe said.
