After a complaint by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Indian National Congress, the Election Commission directed the chief election officer of Jharkhand to issue notices to the social media platforms and the BJP
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – An election advertisement released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dehumanises Muslims of Jharkhand and depicts them in an extremely poor light. The advertisement has sparked outrage forcing the Election Commission to direct the social media platforms to remove it.
The 54-second video shows a large number of children, men wearing skullcaps and women wearing burqas invading a house belonging to a Hindu family and occupying all households. The video starts with an apparent Hindu family having food and busy with their household chores. Suddenly, a large number of Muslim children along with their men and women land at their house and barge into it along with their packs of luggage. All of the children, men and women are being shown in extremely poor condition. They start using all households and engaging in low-level activities in the extremely posh and elegant house.
As the house is being invaded, the owner and his family members are trying to stop the invaders while the women are shown to be extremely distressed.
The video also shows a banner hanging outside the house depicting a political leader resembling Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. On the banner, it is written “We will change the composition of the entire Jharkhand”.
After a complaint by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Indian National Congress, the Election Commission directed the chief election officer of Jharkhand to issue notices to the social media platforms and the BJP.
“It is therefore, directed to take immediate action as per existing laws and procedures and thereafter direct the concerned social media platforms, through the authority designated in the State of Jharkhand under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act to take down the referred posts immediately. You are simultaneously and additionally directed to suitably serve a due notice on BJP Jharkhand to explain the alleged violation of provisions of MCC by the party on account of their referred social media posts. The party may be directed to immediately take down the said post,” ECI’s letter said on Sunday.
According to reports, an FIR was filed and notices were served to social media platforms and the BJP. And, the party also reportedly took down the advertisement.
However, as the video surfaced on social media, it drew a lot of outrage due to its dehumanising depiction of Muslims.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti slammed the ad calling it “pure poison”.
“BJP’s advertisement campaign in Jharkhand assembly elections should make Kashmiri leadership turn in their graves who despite Jammu and Kashmir being a Muslim majority state opted to join a secular democratic India. This choice was made with the vision of a pluralistic nation where all religions could coexist peacefully & honourably,” said Mufti.
“This advertisement being deplorably communal contradicts the foundational ideals and secular fabric of the nation that they choose to be part of. Pure poison,” it added.
RJ Sayema said that when the party has nothing to offer, it is spreading hate. “When you have nothing good to highlight or offer, that’s what you do. Offer hate. It’s only when the people of India realise that ‘hate’ only takes away life, even this party will start doing something good. Till then @ECISVEEP , show some spine please,” she said.
Srinagar MP Ruhullah Mehdi said the advertisement is a pattern of Nazi propaganda against a particular community.
“This is how normal the dehumanising of Muslims in this country under BJP has become. It is exactly on the pattern of the Nazi propaganda against a particular community which led to the Holocaust. I would like to ask @ECISVEEP whether this election advertisement of BJP went unnoticed or is the ECI a silent facilitator of this hate,” he said.
Senior journalist Suhasini Haider said the Ministry of External Affairs issued a tough statement on the concerns of the minorities in other countries. However, the ruling party vilifies one community in its own country.
“Gets much tougher for the MEA to issue statements on concerns about minorities in other countries, when the ruling party of India puts out an election advertisement clearly vilifying one community, and the Election Commission does nothing about it,” said Haider.
Earlier in its complaint, the JMM said that the video “is rife with baseless allegations and falsehoods whose sole purpose is to unduly influence voters to dissuade them from voting for any opposition party and for the BJP to make unfair electoral gains in the State of Jharkhand”.
The JMM said that this video violates the ECI’s “guidelines against hate speech, misinformation, and defamatory content in the digital sphere” and that BJP Jharkhand’s Twitter handle poses “a serious threat to the integrity of the democratic process and undermines the trust of the voters”.