Moon Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuing with his tirade against the Muslim community in his election speeches across the country. These speeches, found to be based on fudged notions, have drawn a plethora of complaints against the prime minister. Political pundits believe the prime minister has resorted to the polarisation methodology after the first two rounds of the seven-phase general elections indicated that ground was slipping from under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feet.
Taking umbrage at the prime minister’s “inflammatory and communal” speeches in Jharkhand, a group of activists from the state on Monday filed a complaint with the Elections Commission official in Ranchi demanding action against him.
A delegation of activists, under the banner of LoktrantraBachao 2024, submitted a complaint to Jharkhand Chief Election Commissioner K. Ravi Kumar regarding the prime minister’s speeches in poll rallies in Chaibhasa, Palamu and Gumla during 3-4 May.
The complaint noted that the prime minister and the ruling BJP’s star campaigner has misled the public with skewed facts claiming that the Congress party was planning to rob Adivasis and other communities of their property and give it to Muslims, derogatorily calling them ‘infiltrators’ and those indulging in ‘vote jihad’. He further misled the people by saying that the Congress party would take away the reservation quota of Adivasis, Dalits and the OBCs and give it to Muslims, it said.
“These fabricated and inflammatory statements are clearly aimed at creating fear of Muslims among many voters and making them look to the BJP for protection. They violate the first clause of the Code of Conduct, which prohibits all parties and candidates from indulging “in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic,” reads the statement issued by the delegation after meeting with the commission official.
The complaint pointed out that the prime minister’s speeches violated the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act.
It said that these and other recent statements of the prime minister in Jharkhand also violate Section 3 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, which prohibits any candidate from attempting to “promote, feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language”.
In its statement, the delegation pointed out that they tried to explain to the Election Commission officials that “these communal statements are especially dangerous coming from the prime minister, who sets the tone for others. Already, there have been many other speeches of this nature from BJP leaders in recent days. The poison is spreading fast”.
However, the delegation claimed that the poll body official did not show any interest in the complaint nor did he engage positively with the delegation.
“When the delegates pressed him on what he intended to do, he simply said that the “rules” would need to be studied, an inquiry would have to be made and the complaint would have to be forwarded to the Election Commission of India. When the delegation asked the official what action would be taken to check such inflammatory and communal speeches in the coming days, he remained non-committal.”
Prominent economist Jean Dreze, and activists Elina Horo, Sijraj Dutta, and Tom Kavla were part of the delegation.
Earlier, Jharkhand JanadhikarMahasabha, a coalition of civil society, expressed concerns over the speeches made by Modi in the state.
During the election campaigns, Modi made such controversial remarks at various rallies in different parts of the country. Clarion India tracked 16 such speeches made by the prime minister in two weeks.
Some complaints were also filed by opposition parties and civil society groups against these speeches. However, Modi doubled down on such remarks instead of abstaining from them.
In Karnataka, civil society groups filed a complaint against Modi when he had called Muslims “infiltrators” and “the people who have many children”.
Maharashtra-based rights group Citizens for Justice and Peace filed a complaint with the Election Commission against the speech made by Modi during an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on 21 April.