Mira-Bhayandar polls: Jain monk urges people to vote for BJP if they want vegetarianism
- BJP on Monday scored a great victory in the Mira Bhayandar civic elections in Maharashtra
- Influential Jain monk Naypadmasagarji Maharaj claims that he too has contributed towards the party’s routing the Shiv Sena
- In a video message he is heard exhorting the public to vote for a certain party since they promised a peaceful and vegetarian society
FollowThe BJP on Monday scored a great victory in the Mira Bhayandar civic elections in Maharashtra. The party grabbed 61 of 95 seats, and, in the process, more than doubled its tally from the 29 seats it won in the 2012 polls.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted that the victory was due to a "wave of Vishwas and Vikas created by prime minister Narendra Modi".
While here the BJP is celebrating their victory, influential Jain monk Naypadmasagarji Maharaj claims that he too has contributed towards the party’s routing the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. A report in the Mumbai Mirror says how, the monk is believed to have brought in around 30,000 votes in favour of the BJP through a video message wherein he is heard urging his followers to support "the only party that will upheld vegetarianism" in Mira-Bhayandar and the entire country.
Watch video: Skip to 2:30- 5:40 minutes of where you can hear the monk exhorting the people to take the right decision.
The Jain monk was vocal in his support for the party since he felt that they were the only ones to support vegetarianism. He says in the video (which has been edited for brevity in places) that the CM Devendra Fadnavis had promised to look into closing the Deonar abattoir in case it was violating the rules of meat export and slaughter.
It is reported that a few days before the Mira-Bhayandar civic polls, Fadnavis, BJP in-charge for the polls Shaina NC, and other senior BJP leaders met the monk, who claimed Fadnavis had promised that no slaughter house will be allowed to remain open for eight days of paryushan. Only Shaina NC is confirmed the meeting and said that the monk had placed these demands but she never said whether they had made any promises.
The paper then quoted an interview with Naypadmasagarji Maharaj wherein he says that he was "certain" that most of the 30,000 Jain voters the area had cast their ballot in favour of the BJP. He also said that he was "100% sure" that the eight-day shutdown of meat shops will happen as he was promised by the party.
The monk is a firm supporter of vegetarianism and is quite impressed by how Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads his life. Naypadmasagarji Maharaj feels that animal slaughter is the bad and has brought in a lot of diseases into the country. The Jain monk enjoys a lot of popularity and is quite active on social media as well.
 Needless to say the Shiv Sena is quite peeved with the results of the BMC elections and is looking to complain against the same. According to the Shiv Sena, the video violates the poll code of conduct and also goes against Supreme Court guidelines that disallow garnering of votes on religious grounds.
