New Delhi, April 8 – The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lodged a complaint with the Election Commission on Wednesday regarding Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s “poisonous snake” remark and demanded that all such derogatory remarks be removed from social media and digital platforms.
It also urged the EC to issue a notice to Kharge for his remarks during an election rally in Assam and demanded a public apology for violating the model code of conduct.
In a seven-page complaint to the EC, the BJP listed out objectionable remarks made by Kharge twice – once about illiterate Gujaratis and the other about comparing the BJP and RSS to poisonous snakes – and demanded that the poll body issue a formal censure against the party and its president.
Mallikarjun Kharge, while addressing a poll rally in Assam, sparked a political storm by comparing the BJP and RSS to serpents and calling for their destruction, even if it meant abandoning prayers.
His comments, apparently made at a gathering of minorities, drew strong condemnation from the BJP.
Kharge made the controversial remarks at an election rally in Assam’s Nilambazar, ahead of the April 9 Assembly elections.
“If you are offering namaz [Islamic prayer] and a poisonous snake comes, you must abandon the namaz and kill it – this is what the Quran says. The RSS and the BJP are these poisonous snakes. If you do not kill them, you will not survive,” Kharge said, according to the BJP’s complaint to the poll panel.
In its complaint to the EC, the BJP has accused him of inciting communal hatred and promoting enmity between religious and political groups.
“The offender is the National President of a national political party and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He is not a fringe actor but the highest-ranking leader of India's principal opposition party,” the complaint said.
It further said, “The use of Islamic scripture to exhort Muslim voters to treat political opponents as enemies who must be 'killed' is not protected political speech. It directly subverts the constitutional ideal of elections as a secular, rational, and peaceful exercise of democratic franchise.”