NEW DELHI: Complaints received regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara are under consideration of the Election Commission of India (ECI), sources said on Tuesday.
Launching a scathing attack against the Congress during a rally in Rajasthan's Banswara on April 21, PM Modi said, “The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold belonging to mothers and sisters, obtain information about it, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom - Manmohan Singh’s government has said that Muslims have the first right to the country’s assets.”
"It will be distributed to the infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?" he had said, adding, "Do you accept this? Does the government have the right to seize your property? Gold is not for showing off; it is linked to women’s self-respect. Her mangalsutra is linked to her dreams. You want to snatch it?" Modi had also accused the Congress of being "in the grip of urban Naxals".
The Opposition on the other hand accused PM Modi of labeling all Muslims in the country as ‘infiltrators’.
Congress termed the PM’s speech as “divisive, objectionable and malicious” and filed a complaint with the ECI and asked the poll watchdog to take action against him.
The Congress also said that the PM had made “blatantly defamatory”, “false” and “unverified allegations” against the party.
In its complaint the Congress also cautioned the poll body against “risks of tarnishing its legacy and abandoning its Constitutional duty by setting a precedent of helplessness that will go down in infamy.”
CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said an FIR needed to be lodged against the PM. “The ECI’s failure to take suitable action will further undermine its credibility as an autonomous institution and lead to further vitiation of the environment for a free and fair poll,” he said in his communication to the ECI, while alleging that a police station in the national capital refused to register the party’s complaint against Modi.
