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New Delhi: The ripples from the nomination of Pragya Thakur continue to spread with the Election Commission issuing a notice to BJP’s newly-minted Bhopal candidate on Saturday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh as a “fake friendship” even as the saffron party raked up a controversy over Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship.
We are just two days away for the third phase of the marathon Lok Sabha elections on April 23 when the largest batch of parliamentary constituencies will be voting simultaneously. Around 115 constituencies will go to polls, including the entire states of Kerala, Gujarat, Goa and union territories Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Bhopal first dominated the news over BJP’s surprise nomination of Malegaon blast accused ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Thakur. She had claimed on Friday – to the applause of BJP workers on the dais – that her curse caused the death of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare by the hands of Pakistani terrorists during 26/11 attack.
After an outcry, including from IPS association, she withdrew the remark. However, she did clearly regret it. According to a PTI report, she lost her temper with reporters who were questioning her on her statement. “Will you get an apology from those who tortured me for nine years?” she said in Bhopal.
Also read: What Pragya Thakur’s Nomination Tells us About BJP’s Future Politics
The Election Commission on Saturday issued a notice to Thakur after receiving a report from the assistant returning officer.
“We took suo motu cognisance of the statement and sought a report from the assistant returning officer (ARO) on the matter. We got the report this morning and we are going to issue notices, which are returnable within 24 hours, to the organiser of the programme and the person who made the statement,” district election officer and Bhopal collector Sudam Khade told news agency PTI.
He stated that the organisers of the event on Thursday had been given permission on certain conditions, which included that there would not be any “objectionable language to defame anyone”.
Pragya Thakur is currently out on bail on health grounds. She is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, which left six dead.
According to a report in Pune Mirror, the national human rights commission had inquired into the claims of torture. However, it closed the case in 2015 stating that the charges could “not be substantiated”. The newspaper report also said that a Supreme Court division bench noted in 2011 that two hospitals examined Pragya Thakur but could not find any injury marks on her.
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended her nomination as a “symbolic answer” to all those who termed Hindu civilisation as “terrorist”.
A day later, Congress’s Bhopal candidate, Digvijay Singh commented that BJP does not “have the knowledge of Hindu civilisation”.
“The person who, as home secretary, issued a statement with the word Hindu terror was given Lok Sabha ticket by the BJP and was made a Union minister…Will (BJP president) Amit Shah speak about it?” he asked. The former MP chief minister was referring to the then home secretary and current minister of state for renewable affairs, R.K. Singh, who is also BJP’s sitting member of parliament from Arrah.
He filed his nomination papers after offering prayers in Jharneshwar temple and then taking blessing from Swami Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati.
Singh objected when reporters asked him about BJP’s electoral plank of Hindutva. “Why do you use the word Hindutva? The word does not exist in my dictionary”.
Singh had said on Thursday that he will not refer to his BJP rival and refused to answer any question about Thakur’s remarks on Karkare or about the EC notice.
In Maharashtra, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and his political ally, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that Pragya Thakur should not have made such comments about Hemant Karkare.
Devendra Fadnavis Credit: PTI
“Late Mr Karkare was a very brave and upright police officer and will be revered as a martyr forever. Sadhvi Pragya’s remark is personal opinion and we don’t support it…She has also apologised and said that it (the statement) was made out of personal pain. However, I feel that such a statement should never be made,” said Fadnavis.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said that he was “terribly afraid” of what Modi could do now. “Modi says he came into politics holding my finger. But now I am terribly afraid, because what this man will do, nobody knows,” Pawar stated in Daund, Baramati.
In neighbouring Gujarat, scuffle broke out at Congress’ star campaigner Hardik Patel’s poll meeting in Ahmedabad. Apparently, 4-5 people claiming to be supporters of Alpesh Kathiriya – a jailed leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) – heckled Patil for not doing enough to ensure his release. This led Patil’s supporters to retaliate and a brief scuffle broke out.
Patil claimed that the ruling BJP was trying to manipulate the altercation. “This is the handiwork of the BJP. They do not want me to campaign. Yesterday they had sent a man who slapped me and today they send goons to disturb the rally,” he said.
All 26 seats in Gujarat will go to polls on April 23 with election campaign set to end at 5 pm on Sunday.
Poll rhetoric in UP
Elsewhere, Modi aimed his fire at regional leaders, first at Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and then the mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. Both states will also be participating in the third phase.
Speaking at a rally in Etah, he claimed that the alliance of Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party was a “hollow friendship”.
“One friendship was also seen during the UP polls. The friendship got over with the elections,” said Modi, recalling SP’s alliance with Congress for assembly elections in 2017.
Former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav with BSP chief Mayawati. Credit: PTI
He stated that even the SP-BSP alliance will dissolve after the elections. “Another friendship has been formed. But the date on which it will break up is already fixed. Should I tell you the date when they will move apart? May 23, Thursday”.
His verbal attack came a day after the alliance’s grand show of unity, with Mayawati and SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav sharing the dais together for the first time since 1995.
In a video that has spread all over social media, BJP’s candidate for Badaun, Sanghmitra Maurya is heard asking supporters to also cast fake votes if the actual voters cannot go to the polling booth.
She asks her cheering supporters not to do it, but reiterates that fake votes could be cast “secretively”.
Maurya told ANI that the video had been edited. “I will never encourage anyone to do farzi (fake) work. What I have said is being shown wrongly. It has been cropped and has been edited. What I have said is that those absent on polling day must be talked to,” she said.
Rahul’s nomination
While Maurya hasn’t attracted the attention of the Election Commission, another candidate in Uttar Pradesh has.
On Saturday, returning officer of Amethi Lok Sabha constituency postponed the scrutiny of the nomination of Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s nomination papers to Monday morning (April 22).
Amethi returning officer orders postponement of scrutiny of Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s nomination papers to 22nd April. pic.twitter.com/KLHZ7PA5qc
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 20, 2019
The RO stated that four people had complained of discrepancies in the nomination papers and Gandhi’s representative had sought additional time to reply to the objections.
The complainants allege that Gandhi had declared himself as a British citizen in the certificate of incorporation of a company registered in UK, which disqualified him from contesting elections.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi campaigning for the 2019 elections. Credit: PTI
Further, they asserted that there was no mention of the assets held by the UK company between 2003 and 2009 in the affidavit filed by Gandhi. The third point of the allegation was that the certificates from his college are in the name of ‘Raul Vinci’.
In Delhi, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao also questioned Gandhi’s nationality.
Also read: The Coming of Age of Rahul Gandhi
“Rahul Gandhi’s name has been shown to be listed as a British citizen in documents related to a company in the UK. Was Rahul Gandhi a British citizen?” he asked.
Earlier on Friday, Allahabad high court had asked a petitioner to approach the Centre with a complaint about the citizenship of Rahul Gandhi.
This, of course, is not a new controversy.
In 2015, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had first raised the issue. That year, the Supreme Court rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) to conduct a CBI inquiry into the allegations. The apex court had questioned the authenticity of the documents and termed the PIL as frivolous.
According to documents accessed by Scroll.in in 2015, Rahul Gandhi had declared himself as Indian in the certificate of incorporation of Backops Ltd in August 2003. Then, as per annual returns in 2004, Gandhi’s nationality is stated as British, but is struck through and corrected to Indian. Another annual return in 2005 describes him as British.
In November 2015, Economic Times quoted a spokesperson of Companies House as stating that the mention of Gandhi as British “could very well be an error made by whoever submitted the information”.
After a reference from the speaker, parliament’s ethics committee, chaired by veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani, issued notice to Gandhi in March 2016. However, as per an Economic Times report published this month, Advani never scheduled any discussion on the citizenship issue and it was never taken up within the ethics committee.
Also read: Will Congress’s NYAY Really Mean Justice for the Poor?
The Congress, on the other hand, wanted to keep the spotlight on its flagship proposal of minimum income support scheme, Nyay. It promises Rs 72,000 income support for the poorest 20% of Indian families if elected to power.
Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh makes a statement on the historic NYAY Scheme launched by Congress President @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/FWcS7LdNG6
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 20, 2019
On Saturday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement released by Congress that Nyay scheme will cost only 1.2-1.5% of India’s GDP at its peak. He asserted that India’s economy had the capacity to absorb the expenditure without the need for any new taxes on middle class. He added that Nyay will help to restart “our economic engine that has come to stop today”.
Dilli door ast
It is probably the end of the road for the on-again, off-again alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress. At a press conference, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia announced that an alliance with Congress was not possible as the party refused to have a tie-up in Haryana.
In a signal, AAP also announced that its Kerala unit would support Left Democratic Front in the southern state that goes to polls on April 23.
Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit told reporters that Congress candidates for Delhi’s seven seats would be announced either on Sunday or Monday. The last date for filing nominations is April 23. So far, neither BJP or Congress has announced their candidates.
EC watch
The Election Commission of India on Saturday issued a notice to Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for violating the model code of conduct (MCC) through his speech in Bihar’s Katihar district on April 15. He had called on the Muslim community not to divide their votes and defeat the BJP. He was given 24 hours to submit an explanation, “failing which the Commission shall take a decision without further reference to you”.
In another order, EC asked Eros Now to take down its web series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Modi – Journey of a Common Man”.
Citing the April 10 order banning a biopic on Modi, the poll panel stated, “In view of the admitted facts and material available on record, this web series being an original web series on Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister and a political leader and a prospective candidate in the current general elections to the Lok Sabha, cannot be exhibited”.
However, more than a week after the initial complaint, the EC is yet to announce the result of its deliberations on the complaint against Prime Minister Modi for violating the MCC by appealing for votes in the name of the security personnel who died in the Pulwama bomb attack.
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