Congress urges ECI for action against PM Modi 'irrespective of status of person' over Rajasthan speech

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the party in its petition to the Election Commission of India has urged to take 'appropriate action' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'irrespective of the status of the person' over the PM's recent speech in Rajasthan's Banswara.

Singhvi said that the Prime Minister's statement was 'seriously, ridiculously objectionable'.

"I have had the privilege of leading the Congress delegation involving about 17 complaints to the ECI. Most important is the first one which deals with the extremely objectionable comments of no less than the Chief Executive of this government. We respect the office he holds. He is as much as our Prime Minister as he is yours and he is BJP's. Unfortunately, the statement we have quoted is seriously, ridiculously objectionable. We pray to him (PM Modi) with folded hands to withdraw this statement and to clarify. We have asked the Election Commission to state that this is the position in law, we will do in his respect, whatever we do with others," Singhvi said while talking to reporters after the delegation of Congress met with the Election Commission of India on Monday.

"I am not going to quote what he has said. He has named a community, he has talked of religion blatantly, he has talked of communal and community blatantly. He has linked it with deprivation of resources of the majority and garnering and monopolisation of that resources by that minority. He has brought in Hindu imagery of no less than the Mangalsutra, therefore clearly violated Section 123, the basic principle of not allowing excitement and information of communal passions," the senior Congress leader said.

He called the speech a "very serious, uncalled-for invasion" of the Constitution's basic structure and appealed to the ECI for action.

"Several circulars of the ECI on the MCC, the latest being on March 1, 2024. The constitutional ethos and spirit that make secularism a basic structure in our Consitution, makes a level playing field and democracy itself a part of the basic structure. A basic structure means that a constitutional amendment cannot violate the basic structure. This is a very serious, uncalled-for invasion and we hope and trust because the ECI is itself on trial that irrespective of the status of the person who has done this appropriate action as in any other case will and must follow shortly," Singhvi said.

Singhvi-led Congress delegation met with the ECI earlier in the day.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said,"Today an @INCIndia delegation comprising Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gurdeep Sappal, and Supriya Shrinate met with the Election Commission of India at 4 PM and put forward 16 complaints against the BJP and other actors for violations of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, various judgments of the Supreme Court, and the ECI's Model Code of Conduct. We hope that immediate action will be taken on these very legitimate complaints."

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress party, PM Modi earlier on April 21 alleged that the Congress wants to take away the gold and property of people and distribute it among "those having more children."

In his speech in Rajasthan's Banswara, the Prime Minister said that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources. Modi further alleged that the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children".

"Congress manifesto says that it will calculate the gold owned by our mothers and sisters, collect information and then distribute to those...whom former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims have the first right on country's wealth."

"They will check how much gold our sisters own, how much silver tribal families have, and how much money government employees have there. They (Congress) have said that gold owned by our sisters would be equally distributed. Does the government have the right to take your hard-earned property?" PM Modi said.

"The gold is not just for showing, it is a woman's self-esteem. The value of 'Mangalsutra' is not just limited to the price of gold, but it is connected with their dreams. You (Congress) are talking about taking it away?" he added.

Attacking the Congress party further, the Prime Minister claimed that the "Urban Naxal" thinking wouldn't even spare the 'Mangalsutra'.

"When they (Congress) were in government, they said that Muslims have the first right over India's resources. So, they will distribute this wealth (property and gold) among those having more children, among illegal immigrants...this Urban Naxal thinking won't even spare your Mangalsutra," he added.