BJP plays the
card again
When the Election Commission asked the BJP why it shouldn’t be arraigned for distributing a communal CD, the party took many steps back
Having been caught, literally, in the act of distributing an obnoxious CD aimed at inflaming communal passions, the BJP is now seeking to wriggle out of the situation by feigning innocence. In its reply to the Election Commission notice seeking explanation as to why action should not be taken against it, the BJP has claimed that "the impinged CD, which was not prepared by the party, but by some individuals, was put in the (media) kit by someone in the office". The BJP claims that the party did not produce, prepare, display or distribute this obnoxious CD. "At best, it was a mistake and an unauthorised act of an individual member and not that of a political party."
For a party that had brazenly denied—had, in fact, justified—the demolition of the Babri Masjid, such fabrications must be child's play. If all the above was true, how was this CD released as a part of a media kit in the presence of top leaders of the BJP like Lalji Tandon? Media reports suggest that the BJP's claim in its reply to the Election Commission's notice that the CD does not contain either the BJP's name or that of the producer is yet again another fabrication. Read the following media report: "The cover on the CD shows the party's `lotus' in full bloom and photographs of the BJP brass. It also carries the address of the party office in Lucknow and the name of its `producer'….In both CDs senior leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani figure prominently" (The Hindu, April 6, 2007).
Further, media reports suggest that this is not the first time that the BJP has distributed such inflammatory CDs. At the Lucknow National Executive/National Council in December 2006, the party officially released a similar CD as a part of the publicity material given to the media. According to reports, both these CDs showed graphic details that can, at the very least, be mildly described as aiming at spreading the worst kind of communal poison.
This being the case, it is clear that mere distancing from the present CD does not absolve the BJP from culpability in openly violating the law of the land. Apart from violating the election code, the distribution of such "inflammatory material capable of creating enmity/hatred among different communities", amounts to a violation of 153 (A), 153 (B) and 505 of the Indian Penal Code and clauses (3) and (3 A) of section 123 and section 125 of the Representation of the People's Act. The BJP today, thus, attracts action under all these provisions.
Suppose, even for a moment, that the BJP's pleas of innocence are to be considered, then its credibility as a political party that speaks the truth has always been, correctly so, grossly suspect. Even if one wishes to, so to speak, give the devil its due, then why does not the BJP publicly condemn the contents of the CD? Further, why doesn't it offer a public apology for having "inadvertently" distributed this obnoxious CD?
The BJP, as its wont, will surely refuse to offer such an apology, once again exposing its complete lack of credibility. It will refuse it because the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)/BJP do not, and cannot, show any remorse for creating enmity and hatred between different religious communities. Communal polarisation based on the spread of communal
poison is the raison d'etre of its
political existence.
As noted in these columns repeatedly, the RSS/BJP have come to the considered conclusion that the only way that they can make political and electoral gains, and to try and seek to regain their lost social support, is through the whipping up of communal passions. Prakhar Hindutva is its political mascot in these UP elections. Such communal aggressiveness on its part, it hopes, will only strengthen and consolidate its Hindu votebank. This is vote bank politics of the worst kind—seeking electoral gains at the expense of our country's unity and integrity and social harmony. |
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Why file FIR against the BJP president?
All due respect to the Election Commission, but it went over the top when it took the BJP to task, having ignored the Congress’ own code violations
The BJP said that the controversial CD had been inadvertently released. Not only was the so-called “offensive” CD promptly disowned and withdrawn, but action was also taken against some of the party office-bearers responsible for the fiasco.
In the most bizarre move of its kind, the Election Commission (EC) swung into action and booked an FIR against the party's national president, Rajnath Singh, for allegedly violating the model code. Not that the EC is not empowered to take cognisance of any complaint, howsoever motivated: but what was shocking was the cavalier manner in which the party's national president was sought to be dragged into in what was purely a local case.
There have been umpteen cases of model code violation across the country by the Congress party. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Mallikarjuna Kharge was caught redhanded with tonnes of cash for distribution among the voters of Chamundeshwari in the recent by-elections and was handed over to Raymond Peters, the Centre-appointed Election Commission Observer and nominee of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy. But the poll panel turned a blind eye. Going by the Election Commission's new guidelines, any future violation by any political party would witness its national president being booked and punished. But then, this is not meant for presidents of all political parties but the BJP, which poses the single biggest threat to the ruling UPA. It was also apparently not a collective decision of the Election Commission but that of a nominee of the Congress party in its ranks, Navin Chawla, known for his and his family's close proximity to the Gandhi family since the Emergency. The BJP demanded that Chawla "should refrain" himself from the hearing in the "communal" CD case because a petition challenging his appointment was pending before the Supreme Court. In its petition to Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy, the BJP argued that it had made an application for Chawla's removal on the grounds that the trusts he runs had received funding from the local area development funds of Congress MPs.
The BJP told the EC that as it had accused Chawla of partiality and bias, that there was a conflict of interest in his hearing a case in which some
parties had pleaded for freezing the party's Lotus symbol and debarring its leaders from contesting the UP
elections. Expressing no surprise over the sudden flood of applications
seeking its derecognition, the BJP,
in its response, said the Representation of People's Act (RPA) has no provision for cancellation or withdrawal of registration.
The Act only provides for registration of political parties. BJP also cited the case of Arjun Singh vs BJP in 1992, in which the Commission had already held that there was no such power with the EC to cancel or withdraw the registration of a party. Top party leaders decided to take the matter to the people's court. BJP president Rajnath Singh and the party top brass including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi marched in a procession to the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow.
While the leaders insisted that they wanted to court arrest, state Director General of Police G L Sharma said that the police was not arresting them as it was still an FIR and not a non-bailable offence. Later, Advani said the BJP leaders had told the police officials that lodging of an FIR against an innocent person like Rajnath Singh was "bad in taste". The leader said he respected the Election Commission as a constitutional body but it should not have ordered the lodging of an FIR against Singh. Senior Superintendent of Police Jyotinarayan only vindicated the party's stand when he said the police had not come across any evidence to arrest the BJP president in the case. "Investigations are on. As of now, there is no evidence against Singh and so we did not arrest him," Jyotinarayan said. |
