Rahul's statement is violating code of conduct, draws EC attention: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's statement of co-relating the symbol of Congress with religious gods such as Shiv, Guru Nanak, Buddha, Islam and Mahavir, draws Election Commission's attention as he is violating the code of conduct.

"In the recent Supreme Court judgement, no religious figures can be used for the political purposes, here he (Rahul Gandhi) has blatantly misused the column," BJP leader S. Prakash told ANI.

Prakash said the party symbol is not allowed in to the poling both but the 'hand' will always be with the voters, so when they enter the polling both their hands will be visible and which is a violation of code of conduct.

The BJP leader said on these two things, there symbol can be challenged in the Election Commission.

"Let the Election Commission respond to the complaint file by the BJP.

The BJP last Friday filed a complaint with the poll panel against the Congress vice-president for hurting religious sentiments, by co-relating the symbol of Congress with religious gods such as Shiv, Guru Nanak, Buddha, Islam and Mahavir.

In a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer, the BJP has alleged that Rahul, during a Jan Vedna Sammelan convention, held in Delhi, violated the provisions of Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, Model Code of Conduct and guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.

"The entire tone and tenor of Rahul Gandhi, while passing the remarks, was to incite the religious feelings of the people, by co-relating the symbol of Indian National Congress with religious god of different religion. Rahul Gandhi made a serious attempt to take advantage of religious sentiments of people in favour of Indian National Congress," the complaint read.

It further said that Rahul Gandhi's statements were aimed to put 'false and baseless' notions in the minds of people that Shiv, Guru Nanak, Budha, Islam and Mahavir's pictures are symbolising the Congress symbol.

During the convention, on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi said that he saw the Congress symbol - an open palm - in the photos of gods belonging to various religions.

"I was told that the Congress party was around 100 years old. But one day, when I was going through some photos, I saw the Congress symbol in a photo of Shivji," Rahul said.

"I thought that was very strange. So I looked at some other photos. And I saw a photo of Guru Nanak ji and the Congress symbol was there too," Rahul said, adding that he also saw the Congress symbol in the photos of Buddha and Mahavir.

He then went on to say that, "I then asked Karan Singh ji (Congress leader): Why is the Congress symbol visible in every religion like Islam, Hinduism, Judaism?" Rahul said.