Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut equates BJP with Hamas, courts controversy

File Photo/PTI

Shiv Sena UBT leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has courted controversy by equating the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Palestinian organisation Hamas.

Reacting to a comment from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar's comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Sanjay Raut Thursday said that the party Assam CM belongs to is no less than 'Hamas'.

"The party he (Assam CM) belongs to is no less than Hamas, it is misusing the central agencies, and destroying the Opposition. He should first read and understand history. He is a part of BJP and should know former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's stand on Palestine-Israel" said Sanjay Raut

Earlier the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had made a direct attack on Sharad Pawar and his daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule.

"I think Sharad Pawar will send Supriya (Sule) to Gaza to fight for Hamas," Sarma said when questioned on Pawar's speech.

Responding to Sarma, Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule today said the BJP needed to hear Sharad Pawat's speech carefully before making such comment.

"I am surprised because Himanta Biswa Sarma has the same DNA as me, he is originally from Congress. He & I share the same Congress DNA...You know how the BJP is disrespectful towards women. But I had hopes from Himanta Biswa Sarma. I am surprised how this change has happened towards women and the approach, probably going into BJP is a little rubbing off on him...BJP IT cell needs to understand & hear carefully what Sharad Pawar has said. Hear his entire statement" she said.

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Earlier on October 15, while addressing party workers in Mumbai, the NCP supremo said that the role of former Prime Ministers of India was "to help Palestine". "The role of Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was to help Palestine. For the first time the Prime Minister of this country supported the role of Israel. The stand of the NCP should be clear. We stand by the people who originally belonged to that land," Pawar said while speaking in Mumbai.

This speech was widely criticised by the BJP with Union Minister Piyush Goel dubbing it a rotten mindset.

"It is a pity that a person who has been India's Defence Minister as well as a Chief Minister many times has such a casual view of issues relating to terror," he posted on X.

"Pawar ji was a part of the same Government that shed tears on the Batla House encounter and slept while there were terror attacks on Indian soil. This rotten mindset has to stop. I hope Pawar ji at least now, thinks of the nation first," he said further. (With inputs from ANI)