The BJP on Monday complained to the Election Commission (EC) against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav over his remarks on the death of mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.
The party also submitted a complaint against an organisation called the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh for “rumour mongering”.
A delegation comprising BJP general secretary Arun Singh, party’s media cell co-convener Sanjay Mayukh and Om Pathak met the EC officials and submitted a memorandum.
In its complaint against Mr. Yadav, the BJP gave details of his public statements on Sunday, when he met with the family members of late Ansari in Ghazipur. He had then questioned the circumstances surrounding the former MLA’s death. Ansari was reported to have died of cardiac arrest while serving a jail sentence. As per the BJP complaint, Mr. Yadav said the Indian government had been accused of “similar incidents” in the U.S. and Canada, a reference to the killing of terror suspects in those countries and allegations of India’s role.
“A grotesquely false statement, without any proof made so casually is rife with international repercussions. Such fulminations, though rooted in their own frustrations of staring into humiliating defeat in the elections, have the potential of impacting India’s relations with countries that are strategically important to us,” said the memorandum. The BJP cited both the Model Code of Conduct and the Indian Penal Code and demanded that the EC not only reprimand Mr. Yadav but also direct the registration of an FIR against him for making “unfounded, mischievous, and defamatory anti-national statements.”
Seeks Cong. apology
In the second case, a piquant situation seems to have arisen because of matching acronyms of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), considered the ideological mothership of the BJP, and the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh, headed by one Janardan Moon affiliated to the Congress Sewa Dal (a frontal organisation of the Congress). A legal battle is on against the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh for trying to appropriate the name of the RSS.
According to the BJP complaint, the Rashtriya Swayam Sangh had uploaded a video on Youtube, which said the RSS was supporting the INDIA bloc parties in the Lok Sabha election, ostensibly to “save democracy”.
The BJP has demanded that the EC direct the Congress to tender an apology on all public platforms, take down the videos, and suspend the X account of the Congress Sewa Dal. The BJP also demanded that an FIR also be registered against Mr. Moon and his associate Javed Pasha under provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
