NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday moved the Election Commission against senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘pickpocket’ and ‘panauti’ (bad omen) remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During his election campaign in Rajasthan on Tuesday, the Congress MP referred to Modi as ‘panauti’ and blamed his presence in the World Cup cricket final as the reason for India’s defeat. “Our boys were going to win the world cup, but Panauti made them lose. The people of this country know,” Gandhi said at the rally.
In another poll rally in Rajasthan on Wednesday, Gandhi said, “The pickpocket never comes alone, there are three people. One comes from the front, one from the back and the third from the distance.” A BJP delegation, which included its general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, urged the Election Commission to take action against Gandhi for his jibes against the PM.
“Comparing a prime minister to a pickpocket and ‘panauti’ are unacceptable. It is a sign of deteriorating levels of political discourse,” said the letter. “Calling any person a pickpocket not only amounts to vicious abuse and personal attack but also character assassination of that person against whom such remark has been made with a clear intent to harm his reputation and mislead the public,” the letter said.
The BJP also demanded action against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accusing him of falsely claiming that Modi’s caste was included in Gujarat’s OBC list when he was the state chief minister. “The remarks of Kharge and Gandhi, who are indulging in spreading a web of lies and are habitual offenders, call for initiating criminal proceedings and strict action against them,” the party said in the letter.