Congress files complaint to EC against PM Modi's 'muslim league' comment

The Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) on April 8 against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statements that mocked the party and compared its election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls with that of the Muslim League.

The Prime Minister made the statement on April 6 at an election rally in Ajmer, Rajasthan. PM Modi called the Congress manifesto a "bundle of lies" and claimed that each page "reeks of an attempt to break India into pieces."

Several Congress leaders met with EC officials and brought up a list of problems, including the usage of images and huge cutouts of the prime minister in government buildings and universities. They urged that they be removed for a fair and unbiased Lok Sacha election to be conducted.

"Every page reeks of breaking India into pieces. The Congress manifesto reflects the same thinking that was prevalent in the Muslim League during the freedom movement.

"It completely bears the imprint of the Muslim League and whatever is remaining is completely dominated by the Leftists," Modi has said.

According to Congress national secretary Jairam Ramesh, the party has filed a complaint against Modi over remarks he made disparaging the party, claiming that its agenda aims to split the nation and impose the Muslim League's pre-independence ideology.

In response to the criticism, the Congress party claimed that the PM was using the "same cliched Hindu-Mulsim" language because he was afraid that the BJP could find it difficult to surpass 180 points in the upcoming general elections.

After the meeting with the Election Commission Congress leader Pawan Khera said they have raised issues that were disscued earlier as well such as pictures of the Prime Minister wearing military uniform are being misused during the election campaign. "There is already an advisory in the Election Commission that this cannot be done during elections. We have urged the Election Commission to take action on this issue as BJP is continuously committing such crimes," he said.

Congress leader Salman Khurshid expressed that the prime minister's remark was saddening. "We are deeply saddened by what the Prime Minister said in his speeches, especially regarding our manifesto. You can disagree with a party, you can criticise it, but to claim that a national-level party would include blatant lies in its manifesto is disheartening. We have raised all these issues before the Election Commission and urged them to take it seriously," he said.

Congress has also lodged another complaint with the poll panel regarding the use of armed forces throughout their election campaign by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the Election Commission's notifications in this respect.