BJP accuses Trinamool leader of insulting SC community, seeks EC action

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday urged the Election Commission to take action against a Trinamool Congress leader and her party's leadership for allegedly making disparaging remarks against scheduled castes by likening them to beggars.

In a memorandum to the poll watchdog, a BJP delegation said TMC leader Sujata Mondal Khan had targeted the SC community for its support to the BJP and accused her of making insulting remarks against its members.

The party delegation, which included Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, told the EC that Khan's remarks were in violation of the Model Code of Conduct, Indian Penal Code and also the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

"This is neither the first time, nor is it a one-off statement. It reflects a certain mindset in the AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) and follows a pattern set by Mamata Banerjee, where she has consistently attempted to polarise the elections on the basis of religion or caste and going to the extreme fringes by raising the bogey of 'outsider', thereby challenging and negating the very foundations of the Indian Constitution," the BJP said.

Such deeply "shocking and insulting statements" are a blow to the democratic polity, and it is utterly "shameful and disgraceful" that such statements are being openly and brazenly made by the TMC leadership to create enmity and hatred between different social classes in West Bengal, it alleged.

The BJP said it has been requesting the commission to follow a zero tolerance policy in enforcement of the election code, and claimed that recent events indicate a growing level of desperation  in the TMC.

"We, therefore, request this commission to take necessary action against Sujata Mondal Khan and the leadership of the AI Trinamool Congress as per the provisions of the electoral laws, Indian Penal Code, The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the Model Code of Conduct," it said.

In a recent poll rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to Khan's statement without naming her to attack the TMC.