New Delhi: In a clear violation of the model code of conduct, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan’s tribal-majority Bhanswara area on April 21 by accusing the Congress of planning to snatch their wealth to distribute it to Indian Muslims. He also referred to the community as “those with more children”.
In a deliberate attempt to confuse voters, Modi also incorrectly referred to a speech made by his predecessor Manmohan Singh to claim that if elected, the Congress government would pass on what belongs to the tribals to the ‘infiltrators’ – a term BJP has been using to allude to the minority community.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
However, those controversial parts that violate the MCC are curiously missing from the long summary of Modi’s election speech uploaded in English in his personal website, www.narendramodi.in.
Under the headline ‘High octane speeches at public meetings in Jalore and Bhanswara, Rajasthan’, the English summary of the speeches mentioned the provocative part in the last paragraph, but steered clear of mentioning significant details – including words like ‘infiltrators’ and ‘Muslims’, and phrases like ‘those with more children’ – used by the PM. It also does not mention that he said that the Congress would be ‘snatching away even the mangalsutra of our mothers and sisters and giving it to the Muslim community.’
The summary said, “Coming down heavily on the ‘grand old party’ in Bhanswara, PM Modi reiterated, ‘Congress is trapped in the clutches of the Leftists and urban naxals (a term coined by the BJP to accuse those opposing its Hindutva ideology of rebelling against the country). What Congress has said in its manifesto is serious and worrying. They have said if they form a government then a survey of property belonging to every person will be done. It will be checked how much gold our sisters own, how much money government employees have. They have also said that gold jewellery by (of) our sisters would be equally distributed. Does government have the right to take our property?”
The website serves as a propaganda portal that uses content to promote the cult of Modi as a strong leader. It has, however, appended the videos of the controversial speeches delivered by Modi in Hindi. While the full Hindi text of Modi’s speech in Jalore has been uploaded on the website, the text from his Banswada speech is conspicuously missing. While those conversant only in English visiting the site would not get to know of the hate speech delivered by the prime minister, those who understand only Hindi can hear his exact words on clicking the video.
Till noon of April 22, Modi’s WhatsApp channel also had not uploaded the speech.
The speech has raised many an eyebrow among political observers. This is particularly because since Modi became prime minister, he had not, until now, referred directly to the Muslim community in his poll speeches to garner Hindu votes. The Election Commission of India is so far silent on the matter.
This March, the Modi government had appointed as election commissioners two men who were closely involved in executing some of the BJP government’s flagship projects till recently.
