Civil society organisations submitted a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, today to demand immediate and strict action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “divisive and hateful remarks” against the Muslim community during his election campaign in Rajasthan.
The delegation, which sought action against Mr. Modi “for spreading false information”, met with the CEO and handed over a complaint, a copy of the Preamble of the Constitution and the Model Code of Conduct.
They demanded that in compliance with laws and guidelines, the Election Commission of India take immediate action to disqualify Mr. Modi and ban his election campaign. They also demanded that an FIR be immediately registered against Mr. Modi invoking penal provisions regarding hate speech and disrupting communal harmony.
The Prime Minister not only made false and provocative statements but promoted dangerous stereotypes of Muslims to incite hatred and garner Hindu votes, they said.
“What we did today was a part of a call for various states to do it. In different states such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan, other civil society groups and activists are also doing the same,” said Aishwarya R., general secretary, PUCL-Bangalore to The Hindu.
According to the delegation, Manoj Kumar Meena, CEO, Karnataka, said that he can only forward the memorandums and complaints to the ECI and any other action was beyond his jurisdiction.
Organisations
The organisations that submitted the letter included People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Bahutva Karnataka, All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice, Campaign against Hate Speech (Hate Speech Beda), People’s Watch, National Federation for Indian Women, National Alliance of People’s Movements, New Trade Union Initiative, Human Rights Forum, Law and Policy Research Institute, Save the Nation, Thamizhnadu Podhumedai, Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Mumbai, Students for People’s Democracy and All India Democratic Women’s Association.
What Modi said
On Sunday, addressing public meetings in Jalore and Banswara, Mr. Modi alleged that Congress, if elected to power, would distribute people’s land, gold and valuables among Muslims. Citing a 2006 speech by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh he said Mr. Singh had stated that Muslims had the first claim on the country’s resources. He further went on to say “property will be distributed among those who have a large number of children... and among the intruders” by the Congress and “women will be deprived of their mangalsutra.”
