JAIPUR – Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday attacked the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly threatening Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with dire consequences.

Gehlot said: “The Election Commission should ban Prime Minister Modi from campaigning. If someone talks on religious lines, his propaganda should be banned as per the provisions of law.”

Gehlot was speaking to mediapersons at his residence on Saturday evening.

Gehlot said: “Bhairon Singh Shekhawat once contested elections from Ganganagar and Bali. He lost in Ganganagar but won from Bali. He started talking about Ram Mandir during campaigning. A petition was filed against him with the Election Commission for invoking religion during campaigning.

“Shekhawat was saved in that case due to lack of witness. The Prime Minister is speaking openly on the basis of religion. The Election Commission is not even seeking answers from him. That is why the PM should be banned from campaigning.

“Kharge is being threatened with dire consequences. Despite the threats, neither the Prime Minister, nor the Home Minister has said anything. The Election Commission is silent even after threat videos surfacing on social media. The agenda of the BJP and the RSS is fixed. They don’t care, but people do. Today, democracy is being murdered.”

On the controversy over Congress’ promise to ban Bajrang Dal in the election manifesto for Karnataka, Gehlot said: “Many organisations name themselves after Ram, after Shivji, but what is the role of the organisations? Praveen Togadia was distributing ‘trishul’, so we stopped him but he did not budge, so we were forced to arrest him. It all depends on the intention of the organisation. The issue of Bajrang Dal did not become an issue in Karnataka, that is why the BJP leaders are fuming.” -IANS