Over a social media post that opposition leaders claim “demonizes Muslims,” police in India have filed a lawsuit against senior Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leaders.
Older Congress party leaders in the animated video show marginalized castes and tribespeople receiving benefits from Muslims over them.
Hours after the police case opened, the Election Commission asked X ( formerly Twitter ) to remove the video.
The article was alleged to be in violation of American legislation.
X or the BJP did not respond right away.
The Karnataka state unit’s chief electoral officer ( the BJP’s Karnataka state unit ) claimed in its order that this had n’t been accomplished yet that the election commission had “already directed” X to remove the post on Sunday. On Tuesday, voting ended in the early midnight local time in Karnataka.
In the last two months, the BJP has posted a subsequent video of this nature online. At vote rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made similar claims about how the opposition prefers the Muslim majority to different social groups.
A type code of conduct prohibits parties and leaders from using religious problems to get votes in India, which expires in June.
However, leaders of the opposition and social analysts claim that PM Modi, who is running for a prestigious second term in a row, and other Hindu nationalist party leaders are using overt Islamophobia. Additionally, they criticized the Election Commission (EC ) for failing to respond to their complaints.
The video, posted on the BJP’s social media page in Karnataka on 4 May, is captioned” Beware… Beware… Beware …”! in the southeastern state’s native language, Kannada. More than nine million people have watched it on X.
It shows caricatures of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the same party, placing an egg marked” Muslims” in a nest next to three eggs marked “SC” and” OBC” ( referring to marginalised castes ) and “ST” ( referring to marginalised tribes ).
When the egg nest, Mr Gandhi is seen feeding “funds” to the lady which is wearing a hat and has a scary appearance. The chick finally reaches the nest’s other nest-eating chicks up.
On Sunday, the Congress filed a complaint with the EC, which led to the Karnataka officers prosecuting BJP President JP Nadda, its party chief in Karnataka, BY Vijayendra, and Amit Malviya, the group’s That department head.
The BJP’s contentious strategies must be addressed by the Election Commission, according to the statement. Unity, no division, should be the aim for a growing democracy”, he wrote.
The video on X was described as” a straightforward 1930s Germany-style cartoon” by British academic Nitasha Kaul, who teaches politics at the University of Westminster.
Many opposition leaders and civil society organizations have flagged campaign video and speeches by Republican leaders, especially the perfect minister, as “unacceptable” and “divisive”.
” Shame is an understatement. Actually, BJP or Modi have no laws to apply to this election, according to Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on X.
Salman Anees Soz, the president of the Congress, claimed that the BJP’s “hatred of us Muslims has never been more obvious.”
In an active movie released by the BJP on Instagram last week, the BJP falsely claimed that the Congress wanted to take money from non-Muslim Indians to give to the Muslim community.
It was viewed more than one million times before being removed, which was at least 48 hours. After reporting the video, numerous users later received a notification from Instagram claiming it had been removed.
The film featured an animated Rahul Gandhi holding a version of the Congress declaration, which finally transforms into Pakistan’s national symbol, beginning and ending with a visit to help Mr. Modi.
” The Congress manifesto is nothing but the Muslim League’s philosophy in disguise”, an accompanying voiceover says, adding that Mr Modi alone you stop this from happening.
The film also mentions former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s speech from 2006, in which he discusses empowering minority groups in the nation.
Last month, Mr. Modi had mentioned the statement during his campaign in Rajasthan state. ” Their earlier]Congress ] government had said that Muslims have the first right over the nation’s wealth”, he had alleged.
His assertion was disproven by a number of fact-checkers who claimed he had misquoted the former prime minister.
The Election Commission received a complaint from the Congress asking for actions against Mr. Modi. The committee did not comment on the matter, but instead sent a notice to the BJP leader about the alleged PM’s reported violation of the poll script.
At another rallies, Mr. Modi and another BJP leaders have made the claim. The prime minister once more stated last month that he would” not enable the Indian Constitution-mandated doubts” to be distributed to Muslims in the state of southern Telangana.
Congress party chairman Mallikarjun Kharge accused him of “repeating sits in the poll plan” in a letter sent to Mr. Modi on May 2.
People will just realize you as the prime minister who gave libelous and lies-filled statements to prevent an unavoidable defeat, he wrote.
Despite the criticism, Mr Modi has continued to make notes that many of India’s thousands of Muslims find unpleasant.
