By Rhea Mogul and Esha Mitra
Police in southern India are investigating a senior leader of the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a political video targeting Muslims, as critics accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running an increasingly divisive re-election campaign.
The police probe comes as the world’s most populous nation votes in a mammoth weeks-long election in which Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party is widely expected to secure a rare third consecutive term.
The party has long denied being anti-Islam but opposition politicians and prominent Muslims have warned that its leaders have been deploying openly divisive rhetoric to turbo-charge their campaign.
According to a police report seen by CNN on Tuesday, Karnataka state police are investigating whether local BJP leader B. Y. Vijayendra and the unnamed holder of the party’s official local X account “promoted enmity” between religious groups after the clip was posted online on May 4.
The 17-second animation depicts leaders of India’s main opposition Congress party giving benefits to Muslims, alongside a caption in the local Kannada language: “Beware… Beware… Beware…!”
It shows caricatures of Congress’s national leader Rahul Gandhi and its Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah feeding “funds” to a large bird wearing a Muslim skullcap, while giving nothing to three smaller birds portraying other marginalized minorities. The large bird then kicks the other birds out of their nest as the Congress politicians laugh.
This story was originally published in edition.cnn.com. Read the full story here.
