PM rousing communal tension in country: CPIM to EC

CPI(M) has moved the Election Commission accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to rouse communal passions in the country and using national broadcaster Doordarshan for electoral purposes.

CPI(M) Politbureau member Nilotpal Basu in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has listed a slew of complaints against the BJP over what it termed were violations of the model code of conduct by the leaders of the saffron party, beginning from the PM's address to the nation last month announcing that India had shot down a live satellite using anti-satellite missile technology.

"Another blatant attempt by the Prime Minster Narendra Modi himself to rouse communal passions by implicitly referring to the outcome in a NIA Court, by equating the accused to the entire Hindu community in an election meeting in Wardha," he said.

An NIA court recently acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the 2007 Samjhauta train bomb blast case. A total of 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed in the bombing.

Slamming the Congress for the 'Hindu terror' metaphor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday charged the opposition party with insulting "peace-loving" followers of the religion by linking them to terrorism.

Basu also raised the issue of the PM allegedly using the national broadcaster to appeal to voters.

"The fundamental question was whether the Prime Minister, who is also a candidate of the BJP, can use the office and the prerogatives to try and influence for the sake of electoral benefit? However, the Commission chose to restrict the question to the role of the DD and gave the national broadcaster a clean chit.

"Now, our attention has been drawn to a tweet by Doordarshan News @DDNewsLive for urging people to watch live the PM's addresses for his #MainBhiChowkidar programme through video conferencing. The print-out of the tweet is appended herewith," he said.

Basu also said the CPIM had also complained to the EC gainst the "unabashed attempt" by the ruling party to use the post Balakot situation and utilise the exploits of the armed forces for electoral purposes.

"The Commission had taken note and passed an order to categorically forbid such use of the armed forces in the election campaign. But now in clear violation of that order, the BJP leader and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath has referred to the Indian Army as 'Modi ji Ki Sena' while addressing a rally in Ghaziabad on Monday, 1st April 2019," he said, adding that these are "gross violations of the MCC" and has the potential of completely vitiating the social atmosphere in run up to the elections.

The Election Commission on Monday took cognizance of Adityanath's reported remarks and sought a report from Ghaziabad district administration in this regard.