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Journalism of Courage
Almost a month after issuing notices to Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge over alleged Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations by their star campaigners, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday directed BJP star campaigners not to make communal speeches and those of the Opposition party to refrain from saying the Constitution may be abolished.
The ECI had broken from norms when it issued notices to the BJP and Congress presidents on April 25 on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Opposition and against Rahul Gandhi and Kharge by the ruling party. While the EC did not name PM Modi or Rahul Gandhi, it asked Nadda and Kharge for their “comments” on the “star campaigners” alleged MCC violations. In the case of the Prime Minister, the complaint pertained to his speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara where he accused the Congress of appeasing Muslims, saying they would hand over wealth to those who have more children and “infiltrators”. The BJP’s complaint against Gandhi was on his speech alleging PM Modi wanted “one language” in the country.
In its orders to both party presidents, the EC said their responses to the notices were not tenable. Both had defended their star campaigners. The EC cited complaints against both parties for violation of MCC received after the April 25 notices, saying the star campaigners had not stopped making such statements.
In the case of Nadda, the EC directed him “as party president to also convey to all the star campaigners to not make speeches and statements, which may divide the society.” It also directed the BJP and its star campaigners “to refrain from any campaigning methods/utterances along religious/communal lines”.
Kharge was asked to convey to Congress star campaigners not to make statements that give a “false impression such as that the Constitution of India may be abolished or sold” and to comply with its 2019 advisory regarding not mentioning defence forces while campaigning. The EC asked the Congress “not to make potentially divisive statements regarding the socio-economic composition of Defence forces”.
The BJP had complained to the EC about Gandhi alleging that if the Modi government returned to power, it would do away with the Constitution, and that the government had created two kinds of soldiers, referring to the Agniveer scheme.
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