Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 8: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking the Congress on Monday claimed that the grand old party never understood the pains of the poor and had kept overlooking their needs, even as the principal opposition party lodged a formal complaint against Mr Modi with the Election Commission of India for comparing the party’s election manifesto with the “Muslim League thoughts” of pre-independence India “in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.”
In its complaint to the ECI against Mr Modi, the first against him in the current elections, the Congress demanded the poll body to act against the Prime Minister, claiming that Mr Modi violated the model code of conduct and the Indian Penal Code provisions regarding spreading enmity between groups on the basis of religion. The Congress cited the PM’s remarks at a rally in Ajmer on April 6, where he called the Congress’ manifesto a “bundle of lies” and that it had the intent of “imposing thoughts that the Muslim League had before Independence”.
“The comments made by Shri Narendra Modi are in direct and complete violation of the Model Code of Conduct that is presently in effect and also constitute offences punishable under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (Section 153). By propagating false, uninformed and vexatious claims, Shri Narendra Modi has attempted to evoke an emotional response from the electorate by using the horrors of Partition in a bid to polarise voters. Such instances of calculated and malicious comments by Shri Narendra Modi are nothing out of the ordinary but rather a part of the larger party-wide concerted effort of arousing communal discord to secure a larger vote share,” the Congress alleged.
It added that the PM’s remarks also endangered the well-being of Congress supporters as he made the public believe that the Congress wishes to “divide India.” “Hence, considering the gravity of the situation this Hon’ble Commission cannot turn a blind eye to the comments made by Shri Narendra Modi… As a creature of the Constitution, the Hon’ble Commission’s allegiance to the Constitution is supreme.
“The public is extremely watchful of the actions taken by this Hon’ble Commission during the election period. In order for the public to have continued public trust, it is extremely necessary that this Hon’ble Commission must be stern and swift in taking action against Shri Narendra Modi’s conduct in raising communal tensions in the Indian society,” the Congress complaint, which was signed by Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala, said.
The complaint was one of six submitted by a delegation of Congress leaders on Monday, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
“This is the time for the Election Commission to demonstrate its independence by ensuring a level playing field for all parties. We live in hope that the Hon’ble Commission will uphold its Constitutional mandate. For our part, we will continue to pursue all avenues, political and legal, to expose this regime,” Ramesh said.
In another complaint, the party sought action against the BJP for videos of the PM with Defence personnel being used in the campaign. The Congress cited Union Minister Smriti Irani’s post on X on April 7, which had one such video. It added that this was not the first time.
Earlier, on March 18, the Congress had informed the EC about an advertisement of the PM that had defence forces.
The Congress said the repeated use of images and videos of Defence personnel was a violation of the EC’s 2013 and 2019 advisories, where it said that photos of defence personnel and functions should not be used in campaigning.
“The continuous use of defence forces in political advertisements by the BJP despite this Hon’ble Commission’s repeated advisories and instruction on the said issue, shows the utter disregard of the BJP Party towards this Hon’ble Commission and its pursuit of conducting free and fair elections,” the Congress said. The Congress also lodged complaints about the life-size cut-outs of Modi around Delhi University and Doordarshan’s broadcast of The Kerala Story, “a work of fiction that vilifies a religious community.”
The Congress leader Pawan Khera said, “We raised many issues, we lodged a strong objection to the way the Prime Minister gave the status of Muslim League to our manifesto. We also expressed our views on the Prime Minister’s hoardings in universities…Since elections have just been declared, the Election Commission of India should recommend whoever it wants to remove or not, the Ministry is currently a caretaker government, and they do not have the right to impose restrictions on freedom of speech like this.”
“We are deeply saddened by what the Prime Minister says in his speeches, what he has said about our manifesto is a bundle of lies, we are deeply saddened by this. You can disagree with any other party, you can argue it, you can dissect it, but to say that a national level party which has been involved in our national movement would write such a bundle of lies in its manifesto, whereas a very good manifesto has been written. He also said that this seems to be the manifesto of the parties which were opposing the independence of our secular society…We are extremely saddened by this matter and we understand that the Prime Minister has no right to say such a thing. We have put this matter before the Election Commission and have made a special request to them to take it seriously and take action on it…” senior party leader Salman Khurshid said.
A 10-member delegation of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is sitting on a dharna outside the headquarters of the Election Commission, demanding to meet the full -bench of the poll body with a complaint of “misuse of central agencies” by the BJP-led Central government.
The delegation of MPs is being led by the party’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien. Among the protesting MPs are Dola Sen, Sagarika Ghosh, Saket Gokhale and Shantanu Sen. The police have been asking the leaders to leave, which they have so far refused.
Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, which will go to polls on April 19, Mr Modi again likened the Congress manifesto with the Muslim League thoughts and said the Congress’ manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections has the Muslim League imprint. “During the Congress regime, corruption had become the country’s identity,” he said. “Since independence, the Congress overlooked needs of the poor for decades and never understood their pain,” the Prime Minister said.
In a frontal attack on the Prime Minister, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed that Mr Modi’s promise of taking action against the corrupt after June 4 meant that Opposition leaders would be imprisoned post Lok Sabha elections. Addressing a rally at Bankura, the TMC chief alleged that the National Investigation Agency had gone to Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district without informing the local police.
“The Prime Minister is coming to West Bengal to address election rallies. I have no issues with that. But the way he is saying that stern action will be taken against the opposition over corruption after the Lok Sabha poll results is unacceptable,” she said.
