Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday took a jibe at Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and other leaders of the BJP over their Gen Z outreach, asking them to “put photos” of Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke in their offices.
Apart from announcing 1,000 job fairs across the state earlier this month, Fadnavis had also used social media campaigns to highlight Maharashtra’s heritage Shiva temples, subtly blending cultural pride with nationalist politics.
Following the recent student protests in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and other parts of the country, the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra had positioned itself to capture the loyalty of the demographic, according to an earlier HT report .
The Maharashtra chief minister on Sunday attended the ‘Mathan 4 Yuva’ youth programme in Nagpur, wherein he assured all support to the youth, PTI reported.
He said the state government had prepared a policy for the startup ecosystem, and urged the youth to show interest in politics.
Raut slams criticism of Rahul’s ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ event
Raut also slammed BJP’s criticism of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ event. They were asked to come, and then they would be paid,” ANI news agency cited Fadnavis as saying. “As for Rahul Gandhi, while he spoke about women’s empowerment on stage, the most revolutionary step towards empowering women is the Women’s Reservation Bill–a bill that Rahul Gandhi opposes and has voted against.
In this context, Raut questioned the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana, which paid ₹ 1,500 per month to women ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2024.
The BJP had earlier termed Rahul’s student outreach programme as “Paison ki Goonj”, and accused the Congress of paying social media influencers to mobilise crowds for the event, according to the PTI report. “We have got to know that people were told that this is an event. The Maharashtra CM said that the youth during the Nagpur event had “all arrived organically. He does not want to ensure that women are given their rights,” the Maharashtra chief minister said.
Maharashtra CM Fadnavis had, earlier on Sunday, during the youth programme, targeted Rahul, claiming that people had been told about the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme as an event.
