Freeze Congress symbol over Rahul’s ‘hand’ remark: BJP

New Delhi: After a BJP delegation approached the Central Election Commission demanding to freeze the Congress’s symbol, ‘hand’, while alleging that its vice- president Rahul Gandhi “tried to give communal colour to the elections” by his recent statements when he “co-related” the party’s symbol with various religious figures, the Congress leader asked the ruling party to “daro mat (don’t be scared.)”

“Dear BJP, daro mat (dear BJP, don’t be scared,” he wrote on Twitter after a  BJP delegation submitted a memorandum to the Commission.

In the memoradum, the BJP said that the “entire tone and tenor” of Mr Gandhi, while making the remarks at the Congress’s recent Jan Vedna Sammelan, was to “incite the religious feelings of the people by co-relating the symbol” of the Congress with gods of different religion. Asking the commission to act against the Congress and Mr Gandhi, the ruling party said his remarks violated the Model Code of Conduct, Representation of People’s Act and the recent guidelines of the Supreme Court.  BJP delegation comprising Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and party office-bearers Bhupender Yadav, Anil Jain and Sidharth Nath Singh lodged the complaint with the CEC.  “The grand old party Congress’ grand new leader has tried to give communal colour to the elections by his statement, in which he co-related the Congress’ ‘hand’ with various religious figures. This is a clear cut case of corrupt practice. There should be action against both Congress and its leader,” Mr Naqvi said after filing complaint with the Commission.

Mr Javadekar said that as soon as the schedule for Assembly elections in five states were declared, the Congress has started raising communal tension and seeking votes on the basis of religion.

BJP national secretary Singh said that contents of Mr Gandhi’s speech is not only offensive but also an attempt to communalise the polity in poll-bound states. The memorandum said that the statements are “premeditated and deliberately” made to identify the Congress with “religious feelings of electors” and amounts to a “clear and apparent appeal to electors to vote for the Congress based on the religion of the voters.”