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Journalism of Courage
Even as the BJP and Congress have locked horns over alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called the Congress the “cry baby of this election” and said that MCC cannot encroach on the right to free speech.
In a post on his official website, Jaitley emphasised that the Election Commission “is under the obligation not to dilute or compress Right to Free Speech”. “Of late, a tendency has developed amongst the political parties to excessively allege violation of the MCC by their opponents. The Congress Party as the ‘Cry Baby’ of this election is leading the pack. Article 19(1)(a) confers to every citizen the Right to Free Speech… Neither Parliament nor the Supreme Court can in any way dilute the impact of Article 19(1)(a). The Right to Free Speech does not get suspended or diluted even during elections,” Jaitley wrote.
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Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech appealing to first-time voters that they must “keep in mind the sacrifice of the martyrs when they vote in an election”, Jaitley said that “no party or candidate was mentioned”. “If such speeches are considered by anyone as violative of the MCC, that may actually run the danger of the MCC’s constitutionality in relation to free speech being called into question,” Jaitley said. Further targeting the Congress, he said, “The third illustration relates to the Gandhi Family principle of restrictive free speech. They can call even an honest Prime Minister a ‘Chor’. Others don’t possess that right.”
In a veiled reference to the opposition parties approaching the EC over alleged MCC violation, Jaitley said that while “submitting memorandums on violation of the MCC in relation to contents of a political speech, everyone has to bear in mind that the MCC has to be interpreted not as diluting free speech but is subject to the Right to Free Speech”.
“The Election Commission, therefore, is under an obligation not to dilute or compress Right to Free Speech. It is entitled to enforce all such provisions, where there is a violation of the provisions of election law and all such speeches which can be interpreted either as violation of law or constitute as permissible restrictions mentioned in Article 19(2) of the Constitution. The MCC and the Right to Free Speech have to co-exist. The MCC cannot encroach the Right to Free Speech. The two have to exist harmoniously,” Jaitley wrote.
