CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a letter to the Election Commission, has sought immediate action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for repeatedly flouting the poll panel’s guidelines of not using the armed forces for canvassing for votes if the Commission wants to uphold the its own sanctity. He has flagged Mr. Modi’s speeches in Gujarat and Barmer where he spoke on Wing Commander Abhinandan and India’s nuclear capability.
On Sunday, last day of the campaigning in Gujarat, he said had Pakistan not retuned the IAF pilot it would have been a “qatal ki raat” (night of slaughter). Mr. Modi said a senior American official had told Pakistan that India would do something big. That India was ready with 12 missiles.
“By claiming that it is him and not our armed forces that secured India in the recent air strikes between India and Pakistan, he has gone onto claim that Pakistan sent back Indian Air Force pilot after his threat to Islamabad,” Mr. Yechury wrote.
He also called Mr. Modi “irresponsible and callous” for calling for use of nuclear weapons. Mr. Modi said at a rally in Barmer that India had stopped being scared of Pakistan’s nuclear button. “What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali?”
“The brazen, reckless invocation of armed forces, armed action and then threats of nuclear war, as something that is a partisan political act he would push for and something on the basis for which a vote is sought, in our opinion, even further compromises the integrity of the electoral process as laid out by the Election Commission,” Mr. Yechury said.
He urged the EC to “put a stop to this impunity”. “In our considered opinion, the sanctity of the mandate given to the Election Commission by Article 324 of the Constitution can only be upheld if the Election Commission acts with urgency to ensure compliance of all including PM Modi to its own guidelines issued publicly.”
Mr. Yechury also flagged the fact that the Election Commission was still to make public the details of disciplinary action against Mr. Modi for his speeches in Latur where he called for vote in the name of the Pulwama martyrs. The Commission had taken cognisance of the speech but not taken any concrete action.
