Shiv Sena begins targeting BJP after Lok Sabha polls, attacks party on minor's killing in Aligarh

Within days of the conclusion of the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena has resumed indirect attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, talked about the brutal murder of a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh and said slogans like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ ring hollow.

The Sena, which has often been critical of the BJP, its leadership and policies of the NDA government, entered into a seat-sharing pact with the ruling party for recently-concluded general elections. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had claimed that his party and the BJP are bound by Hindutva and the two decided to enter into a pre-poll alliance after overcoming differences that soured their ties in the past.

In Saamna, the party said it was “shaken” by the incident of murder of a two-and-half-year-old girl in Tappal area of Aligarh, UP. It then triggered an attack on BJP, without taking its name, by saying “slogans like 'Beti Bachao' seem hollow” at times like these.

Also read | Toddler murdered in Aligarh | All you need to know about the ghastly case

The ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme was started by the NDA for creating awareness against female infanticide and educating the girl child.

The editorial further drew a comparison between the Aligarh murder case and the Nirbhaya gang-rape case in Delhi in 2012 while reminding the BJP its “responsibilities” to protect women. “When the Nirbhaya gangrape incident happened, there were people who did not let Parliament function and forced the government at the time to come up with stricter laws to protect women. These people are now in power and therefore, their responsibilities have increased. This (Aligarh murder case) is heinous and has numbed society. There is widespread anger. The pain that the child suffered is extremely unfortunate,” read the article.