During a Sushasan Samvad event organised by Panchjanya, BJP MLA Nitesh Rane promised to make Maharashtra’s coastline “jihad-free”, claimed that Muslims were obtaining licences using Hindu names and linked local Muslims to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. He also called for additional background checks on people he claimed might engage in “jihad” against Hindu women and questioned their Indian identity and nationalism, while suggesting restrictions on requests for Muslim prayer rooms. Rane further claimed that madrasas teach Sharia law and terrorism, referred to them as “aatankwadi adda” (“terrorist hubs”), praised Himanta Biswa Sarma for shutting down madrasas in Assam, accused Muslims of seeking government schemes while engaging in jihad and of “vote jihad”, and promoted the conspiracy theory of “Ghazwa-e-Hind”, while fearmongering about demographic change and claiming Muslims sought to turn India into an Islamic state.