Lok Sabha elections: ‘Jai Shri Ram nahi kehna toh Pakistan jaa sakte hain’: BJP's Navneet Rana stirs controversy

BJP leader Navneet Rana during a roadshow for party candidate Vinod Bhai Chavda in Gujarat’s Kutch. Photo: Twitter.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Navneet Rana has stoked a fresh controversy after she said those who don’t want to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ can go to Pakistan.

Rana, the incumbent independent MP from Amravati in Maharashtra, reportedly made the remark while speaking in Gujarat on Sunday. The Maharashtra MP, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket, is a star campaigner in Gujarat.

“Those who don’t want to say Jai Shri Ram can go to Pakistan,” said Rana.

The MP further said, “This is Hindustan. If you want to stay in Hindustan, you will have to say Jai Shri Ram,” reported Punjab Kesari quoting Rana.

Several ‘X’ users also shared a clip of her remark on the social media platform and tagged the Election Commission handle.

The Amravati MP also addressed people who participated in a road show organised in support of Kutch Lok Sabha candidate Vinod Bhai Chavda.

Stating that if the Ganga of development is flowing anywhere then that is Gujarat, Rana added, “Gujarat is fortunate to have Narendra Modi as chief minister for 13 years and then Prime Minister.”

As many as 25 Gujarat constituencies are going to polls on May 7, in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election.

In 2014, Navneet Rane contested on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket, however, she lost the election. In 2019, she contested as an independent candidate and won the election. This time, Rana is contesting on a BJP ticket. She was inducted into the saffron party in the presence of its state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Navneet forayed into politics after marrying BJP politician Ravi Rana.

Speaking about her first Lok Sabha win from Amravati, Rana said, “In 2019, when I contested the elections as an independent, the people of Amaravati supported me despite the huge political wave, I think they had the confidence that their voice would be heard in Parliament.”

In April 2022, Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana were booked on the charge of sedition and subsequently arrested by the Mumbai Police after the duo gave a call to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside the private residence of the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, triggering angry protests by Shiv Sena workers.