New Delhi
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he Election Commission of India has finally woken up to the highly inflammatory campaign that has raised fear of communal conflicts in the state and directed newspapers not to publish any advertisement without its clearance. The directive followed a communally sensitive “cow” ad placed by the BJP in regional editions of newspapers brought out from the Muslim dominated areas where polling will take place on Thursday. The EC has also reportedly directed filing of FIR against the newspaper which published the ads.
PerformanceGurus had highlighted the threat to communal peace in a recent article Bihar sits on powder keg. The Wednesday development only reaffirms those apprehensions.
The advertisement in Hindi with word “beef” in bold red, concluded with: “jawab nahi vote nahi” (if there is no answer, no vote).
The picture of a woman cuddling a cow and punch lines that sought explanation from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on certain statements issued by his alliance leaders in favor of beef eating has created furore on the eve of the final round of polling. This ad appeared two days after the EC banned two similar sensitive ads by the BJP.
After a JD(U) delegation called on the Election Commission in Delhi and described the ad as a brazen attempt to created communal hatred, the Constitutional body banned publication of advertisements by any party or candidate in newspapers on Thursday without the clearance of its empowered media panel. This is first time that the Election Commission has issued such a directive for the print media.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he BJP advertisement questioning the “silence” of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over “repeated insults” to the “revered” cow by his “friends” appeared in vernacular newspapers in Seemanchal and Koshi divisions ..
The ad cited purported remarks by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, his party’s Vice President Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in favour of beef consumption. It asked Nitish Kumar to “stop politics of vote bank and answer if he agreed with statements of his friends on beef.”
The advertisement in Hindi with word “beef” in bold red, concluded with: “jawab nahi vote nahi” (if there is no answer, no vote).
Unfazed by the EC action, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who had earlier described this poll as fight between beef eaters and cow protectors said, “There is nothing wrong in our advertisement on beef issue. “We were not the first to raise the issue (of beef). It was Lalu who did. We have just responded.”
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n its order, the EC said, ”In order that no such instance is repeated on the date of poll which is to take place tomorrow, and no untoward incident takes place because of any inflammatory or hate advertisements, the Commission… directs that no political party or candidate or any other organization or person shall publish any advertisement in the newspapers tomorrow unless the contents proposed to be published are pre-certified by them from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC),” the EC said, invoking its Constitutional powers under Article 324.
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