‘Inciting people’: Congress seeks EC action against Modi for ‘bulldozer’ remark
“If some small leader had done this, we would not have paid attention, but the person sitting in the post of PM is speaking such language,” says Kharge
The Congress has objected strongly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge that the party will “bulldoze the Ram temple” if it is elected to power.
The party on Saturday (May 18) accused him of instigating people and demanded that the Election Commission takes action against him.
BJP uses bulldozer: Kharge
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it is the BJP that uses the bulldozer. “It is the BJP that uses the bulldozer. We have never run a bulldozer on anyone till date,” he wrote on X.
“The Election Commission should take action against Modi ji and the BJP for saying such things about the temple of God which is currently under construction by the trust. By saying such things, they are creating anger among the public. They are inciting the public; they are instigating them,” he added.
“The Prime Minister himself is giving instigative speeches; action should be taken against him. If some small leader had done this, we would not have paid attention, but the person sitting in the post of Prime Minister is speaking such language,” Kharge further wrote.
What Modi said
Modi, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, had claimed that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party would run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, and asked them to take lessons from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on where bulldozers should be used instead.
“If the SP and the Congress come to power, they will send Ram Lalla back to the tent and bulldoze the temple,” he claimed.
The Congress president, in his reaction, said Modi was inciting people by saying such things that are impossible as “we cannot do such things”.
“The people of the country know that this will never happen. After our government comes, everything will be protected. This is what our Constitution says, we will work under the Constitution only,” he said.
Outrageous, false charge: Chidambaram
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the party, in its manifesto, has promised to “put an end to the weaponisation of laws, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests, third-degree methods, prolonged custody, custodial deaths, and bulldozer justice”.
“That is a complete answer to the outrageous and false charge that the INDIA bloc will take bulldozers to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” he wrote on X.
“Bulldozer justice may be the signature tune of the chief minister of UP, but it is anathema to the Congress and the INDIA bloc,” the former Union minister also said.
(With agency inputs)
