Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah was on Wednesday charged with creating enmity between religions for an allegedly inflammatory speech he delivered in Muzaffarnagar during the Lok Sabha election campaign in April.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarnagar, H.N. Singh told The Hindu that the charge sheet was filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act.In the speech, Mr. Shah called for “revenge” for the humiliation meted out to his listeners by unnamed people. He and the BJP have maintained that the objective was not to incite violence, and the call was for revenge through the ballot.
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“A man can live without food or sleep. He can live when he is thirsty and hungry. But when he is insulted, he can’t live. The humiliation has to be avenged,” Mr Shah allegedly said prompting the Election Commission to ban him from campaigning in the State. The ban was lifted later.
Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, two western Uttar Pradesh districts, were affected by communal riots in 2013. The Uttar Pradesh Police’s charge sheet comes two days ahead of the by-elections to 11 Assembly seats and the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat vacated by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh in the State.
Mr. Shah has been credited with the success of the party in Uttar Pradesh.
“Desperate times bring desperate measures,” said BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi accusing the Samajwadi Party of framing the party president.
The police denied political reasons, and said the FIR was filed on the instructions of the Election Commission.
On Tuesday, a special CBI court in Mumbai ordered Mr. Shah, former Gujarat Home Minister and accused in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005, to be present in the court on September 22.
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