IUML complains to EC against Yogi's 'virus' remark

A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dubbed the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a "virus", the party on Saturday filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC).

Adityanath had on Friday called the IUML a "virus", after which the party had said it would initiate legal steps against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

"The Muslim League is a virus and spares no one infected by it. Today, the country's main opposition party Congress is infected with this virus. What will happen if the party wins the elections? The virus will spread across the country," Adityanath had tweeted.

"The statement of Yogi Adityanath is highly objectionable and illegal. In this context IUML has urged the Election Commission to take appropriate action against such forces who are out to tarnish the image and secular credentials of IUML," IUML national General Secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty said in a statement.

The party, which is a Congress ally in Kerala, said it does not need any certificate for its "nationalist or patriotic credentials" from any quarters including the UP Chief Minister.

"The IUML is a recognised party in the state of Kerala and has a long history of upholding the secular democratic ethos of our Constitution. Today, we would like to remind these forces, which are facing certain political defeat at the hands of our liberal, secular democratic common people, that their agenda of creating divisive politics in the country will not succeed as the people of our country are determined to expose these forces and their game plans though the mighty force of the ballot," said Kunhalikutty.

It added that "frustrated and discredited elements like Yogi" are trying to malign the party which "upheld India's secular fabric and communal harmony".

"Today, faced with several of their own senior leaders coming out together to expose BJP's dangerous and devious designs to cause tensions in the country, the frustrated and discredited elements, like Yogi, are trying to malign our progressive political forces," the party statement said.

--IANS

vv/nir