Prime Minister Modi’s divisive, irresponsible speech unlikely to invite EC’s censure

The Election Commission of India has been extraordinarily lenient with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite repeatedly violating the Model Code of Conduct, the PM has got away so far without a warning or a censure from the Commission.

And although the Prime Minister on Monday invoked the word ‘Hindu’ over a dozen times in his address at a public meeting at Wardha (Maharashtra) and accused the Congress of being anti-Hindu and pro-Pakistan, he is unlikely to be pulled up by the Election Commission.

The Election Commission of course can only issue warnings and censure political leaders violating the Model Code of Conduct or vitiating the electoral process. As former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi explained on TV, the Commission can only invoke its ‘moral force’ in case of violations. But a warning to none else than the Prime Minister of India should have a salutary effect and restrain not just him but other political leaders reducing the election campaign to a mud bout in a pig sty.

The MCC says, “No party/candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences/create mutual hatred/cause tension between different castes & communities, religious/linguistic, there shall be no appeal to caste/communal feelings for securing votes".

But Modi got away by alleging that more land was being given to bury the Muslims than to cremate the Hindus ( Kabristan vs Shamshan) during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. During the same campaign, he alleged that more electricity supply was being maintained by the state government during Muslim festivals than during Hindu festivals ( Eid vs Diwali).

Then during the Gujarat Assembly election, the Prime Minister made the outrageous claim that the Congress was conspiring with Pakistan to install a Muslim, Ahmed Patel, as chief minister of the state. Even more preposterous was his allegation that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and former Army Chief Deepak Kapoor had met Pakistan’s High Commissioner and a visiting former Foreign secretary of Pakistan at a private dinner in the house of former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer. The PM, making the sensational allegation the morning after the private dinner, alleged that this amounted to treason.

He is yet to apologise for the reckless comment. It was left to Arun Jaitley to offer some kind of explanation in parliament to mollify the opposition.

And now the Prime Minister is at what he apparently does best, inflaming passions on communal lines, invoking ‘Hindu’ anger and seeking to ‘punish’ the previous government and the previous ruling party for allegedly insulting Hindus by coining the term, “saffron terror”.

The Prime Minister’s ‘minority phobia’ is worrying and raises questions about his mental health, if not his conduct that is unbecoming of the office he holds. With the Election Commission of India turning a benign eye to his several transgressions, it is unlikely that he will be pulled up even now. And one can only dread what he is going to say next in the coming six weeks of campaigning.

Former diplomat K.C. Singh summed up the sentiment of many when he tweeted:

“Regrettably one thought PM Modi’s brush with prime ministerial power, serial hugging of Muslim Gulf Sheikhs & Christian western leaders, his pre-2014 bigotry would pass. Instead from BIGOT he’s now free flowing communal SPIGOT.”

While others quibbled over the demographic divide in Wayanad, from where the Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be contesting, others wondered if it behoved the Prime Minister to speak in terms of religious divisions.

Some Twitter users pointed out that Hindus are in a minority in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and in several states in the North-East. Should that make a difference in elections ?