The Election Commission of India on Thursday issued yet another notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The firebrand BJP leader has been given 24 hours to explain his remarks in which he had described a Samajwadi party candidate as “Babur ki aulad” or “Babur’s child”.
Adityanath made the comment at an election rally in UP’s Sambhal district on April 19.
Referring to the SP candidate from Sambhal, Shafiq-ur-Rehman Burq, Adityanath had said, “What can be said about the SP… it fielded a candidate in Sambhal who claims to be the descendant of Babar, hesitates to garland the statue of Babasaheb, and does not recite the Vande Mataram.”
Adityanath had made the comment immediately after resuming campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections upon his return from a 72-hour ban.
The EC said Adityanath’s comment could “create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities” and along religious or linguistic lines. The poll body said that candidates should refrain from criticising other parties or workers “based on unverified allegations”.
The EC said it had already earlier censured Adityanath for making communal speeches and had barred him for 72 hours from holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, roadshows and interviews.
The poll panel had earlier issued him a showcause notice for his “communal” remarks, where he had Adityanath had compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between ‘Ali’, a revered figure in Islam, and Bajrang Bali, the Hindu god Hanuman.