May 05, 2024 11:19 AM IST
The Karnataka Congress has formally complained against senior BJP leaders, including J.P. Nadda, for sharing a controversial video on social media.
The Congress party in Karnataka has filed a formal complaint against BJP national president J P Nadda, its IT cell head Amit Malviya, and state unit chief B.Y. Vijayendra for posting a video on social media allegedly aimed at intimidating members of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities.
The letter, submitted by Ramesh Babu, chairman of the media and communications department of KPCC, pointed to a video shared on the official social media accounts of Karnataka BJP that depicts animated characters of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah.
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The video portrays SC, ST, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) as “eggs” in a basket, apparently of reservation. The video goes on to show an animated character of Rahul Gandhi planting another “egg” of the Muslim community in the reservation basket. It depicts Congress leaders favouring the Muslim community over SC, ST, and OBCs by putting more funds into their mouths.
“In the said video, it is projected as though funds are fed into mouth of Muslim Community and that the Muslim Community kicks out SC, ST and OBC community,” Ramesh Babu said.
He alleged that this portrayal not only violates the model code of conduct but also constitutes an offence under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989.
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The Congress leader expressed concern that such actions could incite hatred and ill-will among communities, particularly during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in 14 constituencies.
“The video…is nothing but intimidating SC/ST community not to cast vote to Congress. This is clear case of intimidating Sc/St community members and further projecting Sc/St community people in bad light showing them as “Eggs” and being kicked by another religion i.e., Muslims,” Ramesh Babu said.
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He also blasted the state-level media monitoring committee for approving the video and questioned the lack of action against its dissemination.
“Hence, it is just and necessary to initiate suitable action,” he added.
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