Fuelled by the poll season adrenaline, the BJP on Wednesday attacked Congress Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath for pandering to the Muslims and charged his party with working against the victims of 1984 Sikh riots while also pointing out that Nath was removed as Punjab incharge following the anti-Sikh killings. The BJP demanded the EC to take legal action against Nath.
Making Nath its target in the poll-bound State, where voting is due on November 28, BJP referred to a video figuring him on social media wherein he is purportedly saying that it would be a huge loss if the Congress does not get 90 per cent of Muslim votes.
A BJP delegation, led by Union Minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, visited election commission and sought suitable penal action against Nath for inciting communal and religious feelings by appealing to a particular religious community . The party also drew EC's attention to the alleged violation of code of conduct by the Congress MP Chief.
In the clip, the nine-time Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara is reportedly urging a gathering of Muslim clerics to account for each and every Muslim vote in the State. He asks them to conduct a postmortem on why only 60 per cent Muslims turn up to polling booths. The veracity of the clip is yet to be confirmed by independent viewers.
"In the Muslim booths, what is the percentage of voting that has taken place? If 50 to 60 per cent of voting has taken place, why was it just 60 per cent? Why wasn't it 90 per cent? It is important to do a postmortem of the previous elections. If you want we will get it done to 80 to 90 per cent. If we don't get 90 per cent vote share of the Muslim community today, then it will be a big loss for us," Nath can reportedly be heard saying.
In the clip he is seen telling the members in the gathering to 'identify' Muslim booths and target the voters there. "You know which is a Muslim booth. In that booth, what was the percentage of voting that took place? If 60 per cent voting has taken place there, there would be a reason behind it," Nath says.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit out at Congress for practicing 'divide and rule' politics brazenly. He also went on to say that Nath's fresh comments are an extrapolation of Congress president's comment where he allegedly asserted that Congress is a party of Muslims. Patra also implied that the Congress was undermining the votes of backward class and tribals.
In another video, circulated in social media earlier, Nath was purportedly commenting on the so-called divisive politics of the BJP and asking the Muslim voters to bear with it until polling concludes.
On Wednesday, the BJP also charged the Congress with denying justice to the 1984 Sikh victims and also simultaneously targeted Nath saying he was removed as Congress incharge for the Punjab Assembly polls following protests by Sikhs.
A day after a Delhi court awarded death sentence to an accused and life imprisonment to another in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the probe carried out by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Narendra Modi Government led to the sentencing.
"We (BJP) are very satisfied," the Union Minister told reporters about his party's stand on the verdict and added that people needed to be told that the Congress had, during its rule, tried to ensure that the Sikh riot victims did not get justice.
The Opposition party did it to save its own people, Prasad alleged.
Targeting Nath, who has been accused by some Sikh bodies of having links to the riots, Prasad noted that the Congress had removed him as its incharge for the Punjab polls last year following protests by people. The Congress should answer as to why was Nath removed, he said.
Nath had in the past rejected the charges against him and said he had no links with the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots, following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.