E Cgave clean chit to PM Modi over his speech in Wardha
NEW DELHI : The Election Commission on Tuesday gave clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his speech in Wardha, Maharashtra. The poll body said that he did not violate poll code during the speech. The EC said “no such violation has been noticed” in Modi’s Wardha speech.
“In matter related to a complaint concerning alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct in a speech by PM Narendra Modi in Wardha, Maharashtra on 01.04.2019, Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation has been noticed,” the poll panel said.
Earlier this month, while taking a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to also contest from Kerala’s Wayanad, PM Modi said that the opposition party was “scared” to field its leaders from constituencies where majority dominates.
“Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by majority (Hindu) population. That is why they are forced to take refuge in places where the majority is in a minority,” PM Modi had said. After which, the Congress filed a complaint against PM Modi with the EC, alleging that the comments were “hateful and divisive”.
The Congress moved the EC alleging that Modi had made “hateful and divisive” comments at an election rally at Wardha on April 1 and sought to target Rahul Gandhi “in language tailored specifically to create discord between two different religious communities”.
The Congress in its complaint said Modi stated that the opposition party had insulted Hindus and people have decided to punish the party in the election. “Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by majority (Hindu) population. That is why they are forced to take refuge in places where the majority is a minority,” the complaint quoted Modi as stating.
The party said Modi had also stated that Congress used the term “Hindu terror”. The complaint said that Modi and BJP have for five years “fostered an atmosphere of communal tension for petty political gains”.
While addressing rally in Wardha on April 1 Modi had slammed the Congress for the ‘Hindu terror’ metaphor and charged the opposition party with insulting “peace-loving” followers of the religion by linking them to terrorism. The Hindus have now woken up and the country has decided to “punish” the opposition party, Modi said.
“The Congress tried to stain crores of the country’s people using the term Hindu terror. Tell me, weren’t you deeply hurt when you heard the term ‘Hindu terror’? Is there a single incident in the history of thousands of years of Hindus engaging in terrorism?” Modi said. He also asked the people whether they would forgive the Congress for committing the “sin” of linking peace- loving Hindus to terrorism
Earlier today, the Commission got a notice from the Supreme Court over a petition that accused it of “inaction” regarding complaints against PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Several complaints are pending in the commission that accuses them of delivering hate speeches and using armed forces for “political propaganda”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it would hear the case next on Thursday. The Congress had said that even though the complaints have been pending for three weeks, the Commission has not responded. Yesterday, the Commission had said it was examining the complaints against the Prime Minister and was likely to take a call on the matter today.
(With Agency Inputs ).
