They demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be barred by the EC from campaigning for 96 hours and an FIR lodged against him for his alleged hate speeches in a campaign with the slogan “Grow a Spine or Resign.”
Demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be barred from campaigning for 96 hours and an FIR be lodged against him for his alleged hate speeches, several civil society groups undertook a nationwide joint campaign on May 11, including in Karnataka, with the slogan “Grow a Spine or Resign.”
The activists in Bengaluru submitted a memorandum to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka holding the ECI accountable for its “inaction” against violations of the MCC and laws during the Lok Sabha elections.
“In Karnataka, we had complained to the CEO about BJP’s animated video clip on Muslim reservation and had demanded that it should be taken down. Although an FIR was filed, it was taken down only after the elections in Karnataka. During the Lok Sabha poll campaign there were several hate speeches by BJP members which should have been taken cognizance of by the EC. We had demanded that the BJP Karnataka handle should be stopped from posting on social media. But, none of our demands were looked into,” said Vinay Sreenivasa, member of Bahutva Karnataka that was part of the joint campaign.
He alleged the ECI has been acting only against MCC violations by opposition parties and letting the ruling party off the hook. “Randeep Surjewala of the Congress and K. Chandrashekhar Rao of the BRS have been banned from campaigning for 48 hours over MCC violations. But more serious violations by the BJP have been ignored. We demand that Mr Modi be barred from campaigning for 96 hours,” he asserted.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
