The BJP on Monday urged the Election Commission to ban Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning in the Assembly polls and register a criminal case against him and his party, alleging that he was promoting hatred and division in society with his comments.
A BJP delegation, including Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, met the EC with a memorandum and claimed that Mr. Sidhu had insulted Brahmins with a "derogatory" reference to divide the Punjabis.
Mr. Sidhu had also recently made an appeal to Muslims that their votes should not be divided, the BJP noted.
Mr. Naqvi said the Congress leader's comments are in violation of the model code and the Indian Penal Code as well.
He also accused the Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh of trying to hinder Muslim women from voting and asked the EC to look into it.
The BJP memorandum urged the EC to also censure and warn the Indian National Congress for promoting hatred and division by "allowing and acquiescing in the sinister designs" of Mr. Sidhu.
"In a State that has suffered due to secessionist elements and militancy in no distant past and which is just about emerging from the ill-effects thereof, a crass derogation of the one particular caste among Hindus is an ugly attempt to divide the people of Punjab, which being a border State has always been a target of sinister incursions from across the border. Such trends, however preliminary, must not be ignored."
