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3 Communal Insta Posts by BJP taken down in Chhattisgarh, CEO issued “strong warning” to the BJP

sabrang — Mon, 27 May 2024 05:39:09 +0000

On May 24, BJP’s 3 “communal” and “controversial” Instagram posts were pulled down after an intervention by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). All posts were uploaded by the Chhattisgarh BJP’s official Instagram handle. All these posts were pulled down Friday after the Election Commission verbally reached out to the BJP, and also contacted Instagram’s parent company Meta.

The Chief Electoral Officer Reena Kangale said a “strong warning: has also been issued to the party against uploading such posts in the future.

What were in the posts of BJP and when uploaded?

This is not first incident when BJP’s social media Cell violated the MCC and crossed the limits of breaching communal harmony.

The first post was uploaded on May 15. In which an animated video allegedly showed a man wearing a cap and green clothes robbing a woman. When the woman asks for help, a caricature of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi takes the woman’s purse and gives it to the man. The video got 2,637 likes.

Second post uploaded on 20th May. This was a photo in which a caricature of Rahul Gandhi is snatching a mangalsutra from a woman and giving it to another man

The third post was posted on Chhattisgarh BJP’s Instagram on May 23, the animated video showed Rahul Gandhi holding a large egg labelled ‘Muslim’ and smaller eggs labelled ‘SC’, ‘ST’ and ‘OBC’. Then the child hatched from the ‘Muslim’ egg grows up and pushes others out of the nest. This post got 1,040 likes. The same video was also posted on May 7 from the Karnataka BJP account, and same pulled down by the Election Commission.

BJP claimed nothing controversial, Congress demanded legal action:

The BJP said there was nothing objectionable in the posts and that they were just targeting the Congress’s manifesto. “We did not receive any notice from the Election Commission, but we removed it as we are following the election guidelines. There was nothing religious about. The posts were related to the Congress narrative of inheritance tax and taking away reservation and giving it to Muslims,” Somesh Pandey, from the social media cell of the BJP in Chhattisgarh, said.

The Congress said legal action should be initiated against the BJP for the posts. Sushil Anand Shukla, in charge of the Congress’s communication cell in Chhattisgarh, said, “It is an extremely serious issue where BJP is conspiring to disrupt communal harmony of India and defame Congress party. They have made it a habit of violating the code of conduct and BJP’s social media handles have posted dozens of such posts. Their handle must be suspended. Just letting the BJP off with a warning is not enough. The Election Commission should take legal action against the BJP.” The Indian Express reported

Earlier, the Calcutta High Court has also slammed ECI for inaction against the derogatory advertisements published by the BJP and retrains BJP from publishing ads in any form of media till the completion of election. Sabrang India reported

ECI issues ‘directions’ to BJP and Congress following the responses from both the parties over MCC violations

Abhishek Manu Singhvi castigates ECI for opposing the plea to publicly disclose Form 17C data

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Communal posters found and removed in Borivali train after CJP intervenes

Fri, 27 May 2022 06:06:23 +0000

The Government Railway Police (GRP) deputed in Borivali in Mumbai’s northern suburbs have acted on a complaint by CJP and removed communal posters from a local train. On May 25, 2022 CJP shared on Twitter, a video of the poster we had received from a rights group, urging the GRP to act quickly.

A video sent by a Mumbai resident showed a train halted at Malad station that had two to four posters in Devnagri-script stuck on the coach windows. The posters read, “Wake Up Hindus! Section 30 should be removed so that schools can teach Ved, Upanishad, Gita, Ramayan and other scripts.”

A Borivali train at 10PM has posters stuck that says “jaago hindu jaago. Ab dhara 30 hataa deni chahiye” the video is taken from Malad station inside coach 5068C. Request @grpmumbai to take action against this communal hatred act. pic.twitter.com/eVpucf1ACo

— Citizens for Justice and Peace (@cjpindia) May 25, 2022

The video-maker called this an attempt to create a communal divide among people. “Trains are government transport when in reality people of all religions use this means of transport,” the person is heard saying.

By Wednesday evening, the posters were removed from the coach mentioned in the video.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Borivali GRP personnel have traced the coach and removed the said poster from the premises. pic.twitter.com/6qQIFfjQhJ

— GRP Mumbai (@grpmumbai) May 25, 2022

Borivali Railway’s Senior Police Inspector Anil Kadam told us, “We have removed all posters inside the train. While we could not check the entire train at the time, our officials will inspect nearby coaches again to check if any more posters have been pasted.”

Kadam further assured us that the issue will be raised with higher officials. According to the official, such communal posters have not been seen in trains before this. Recently, there have been communal tensions in Mumbai, especially after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) call for removing loudspeakers from mosques.

However, CJP along with many progressive rights groups in the city have been fighting against such divisive politics. In April, during Ramzan, CJP and like-minded groups organised many secular iftars where people of all religions came together to share a traditional meal and forge stronger bonds. CJP has also been spearheading a mohalla committee campaign to help build communal harmony at the neighbourhood level.

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‘No Entry’ for non-Hindus at Varanasi Ghats?

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:23:13 +0000

Scores of communal posters were pasted on many ghats (river banks) in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday. The posters, in effect, ‘warned’ non-Hindus to stay away from the public ghats of Varanasi including Asi Ghat, and announced that entry of non-Hindus to the ghats is prohibited. The posters carry the names of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal Kashi.

The posters read, “Ganga, ghats of Varanasi and temples are symbols of Sanatan Dharma, Indian culture and centre of our faith. Those who follow Sanatan Dharma are welcome at the ghats. These are not picnic spots.”

In a display of the ‘protection’ these Hindutva groups enjoy in Uttar Pradesh, a man identified as Nikhil Tripathi Rudra, the Varanasi convener of Bajrang Dal told the media that the ‘instructions’ on these communal posters were “not a request. This is a warning.” He proudly accepted that the posters had been put up by his group and added that Bajrang Dal workers will “stage a demonstration if people don’t stop using the ghats as a picnic spot.” He further said, “Now Hindus will have to show strength, to come forward to protect religion and society,” adding that “not everything can be left to the government. Whoever is seen entering the temple or Ganga Ghat, will be caught from the spot and handed over to the police,” reported Dainik Bhaskar.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Rajan Gupta told the media that “the temple and Ganga Ghat are the places of faith and belief of the people of Sanatan Dharma.” He asked, “What work do people of other religions have here?”

Meanwhile, according to a report in Hindustan Times, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad member Rakesh Ranjan Tripathi “expressed no knowledge of the posters and said that everyone was free to visit the ghats.” According to the news report, after the news of these communal posters spread, the local “police removed them from various ghats.”

No separation of Religion and State, empowers Hindutva mobs

These communal posters now making news, need to be seen in that context, as local Hindutva groups have become more active since 2021, in the state, and are at their peak now that dates of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022 are to be announced soon.

In December 2021, the area MP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath corridore in Varanasi and put the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva agenda front and centre. He took a dip in the Ganga, performed an elaborate puja, and the entire event was telecast live. Prime Minister had also said, “Terrorists have invaded this city, tried to destroy it! History has borne witness to Aurangzeb’s atrocities and terror. He tried to change civilization with the might of his sword, he tried to crush culture using extreme methods. But the soil of this land is different from that of others. If Aurangzeb comes here, Shivaji stands up to him!”

The PM has so far remained silent on communal speeches by his own party men, as well as heads of right-wing groups. Such instances of hate speech are on the rise as many state elections loom on the horizon. Many BJP politicians, have been echoing anti-Muslim and anti-Christian hate speeches like the ones made at Haridwar recently. Even though they have made the headlines for their extreme views, however as they are yet to be censured by the BJP’s senior leadership, it may be seen as an ‘encouragement’ and thus inspire many more.

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