HM Amit Shah ends poll campaign in Uttarakhand

Haridwar: On the last day of the election campaign in the hill state Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP seemed to hit the ground as its top central ministers and other senior leaders–Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies on Saturday.

Shah, who addressed election rallies in Dhanaulti, Sahaspur and Raipur earlier in the day, interestingly ended the election campaign by holding door-to-door campaigning and Ganga Puja at 'Har ki Pauri' in Haridwar in the evening.

He reached the Hindu pilgrimage site at around 5.00 pm, met the shopkeepers across the Ghat and circulated pamphlets, mentioning the key points of BJP's election manifesto. Then at around 5.10 pm, he performed Ganga Aarti.

However, experts say that Shah's visit to the holy city might send out a message favouring the Hindu community in the state, which shares a major portion of almost 83 per cent of the entire population of the hilly state.

Whereas Muslims are 14 per cent, Sikhism is 2.34 per cent, Jain, Christian and Buddhists are 1 per cent. This apart, almost two months before the assembly elections, the state grabbed national headlines for hate speeches given at a religious congregation held in the very Haridwar city, attended by several top Hindu seers, some participants allegedly gave inflammatory speeches calling for violence against the minority community.

The ruling BJP is yet to take any stern action or the senior leaders of the party are yet to give any statement on the contentious event. Local police administration also did not take any cognizance or are yet to arrest the participants.

But while addressing a rally in Sahaspur, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the Congress party started appeasement politics by helping Rohingya Muslims settle on the mountains of the state. "Congress has started the politics of appeasement. Rohingya Muslims have begun to be seen in the mountains of Uttarakhand. It is being done under their leadership. I have come to promise you that to make Dhami your chief minister, the BJP government would wipe Rohingya out of the state," he said.

However, Congress has not made hate speeches on an election issue in the state. On the other hand, Haridwar is an important constituency due to the considerable presence of Muslim and Dalit voters in the Haridwar district.

The BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the BSP, all are contesting from here. Madan Kaushik, who is a four-time MLA from Haridwar and the BJP's president in the state, will once again contest for the same seat. Congress has nominated Satpal Brahmachari.

Traditionally, Uttarakhand has never voted an incumbent government back to power. The state will go to polls on February 14 on all 70 seats. More than 600 candidates are in the fray. Vote counting and the declaration of results will take place on March 10.