Crime & Politics: 168 candidates in seven phases have Hate Speech cases against their names

The statement given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a public rally in Rajasthan recently had evoked sharp response from the opposition which slammed it as hate speech.

PM Modi has in his speech in Rajasthan while campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections recently had stated that the Congress manifesto mentioned about taking stock of ‘the gold of mothers and sisters’ and distributing the wealth besides added that previous Manmohan Singh government had said that Muslims had the first right to country’s assets.

Coming down heavily on this statement of PM Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said that no Prime Minister in the history of India had ever lowered the dignity of his office as-much-as Modi did. He also said that Modi’s speech clearly conveyed the panic in BJP about the opposition clearly winning the first phase of elections earlier held on April 19.

“The level of lies of Narendra Modi has fallen so much after facing disappointment in the first phase of elections that out of fear he now wants to divert people’s attention from issues. Trends have started coming in regarding the immense support the Congress’s revolutionary manifesto is receiving,” posted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on X (earlier Twitter).

Similarly, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also in a post on X mentioned “What Modiji said was hate speech and also a well thought-out ploy to divert attention. Today, the Prime Minister did what he has learnt from the values of the Sangh,”.

Even the Election Commission of India had on May 22 directed the leaders of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain from making speeches on religious and communal lines. Party president JP Nadda was issued the notice on opposition charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a divisive speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara.

Similarly, the ECI also directed the opposition Congress to refrain from giving potentially divisive statements on the socioeconomic composition of the armed forces.

However, it is not the first time that political leaders and contestants in an overdrive to win elections have indulged in Hate Speech.

As per data made available by ADR and The National Election Watch, a worrying 168 candidates of different political parties as-well-as independents have cases of Hate Speech registered against their names.

Data made available by ADR and National Election Watch revealed, a maximum of 44 candidates contesting in phase IV of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections had cases of hate speech registered against their names, followed by 35 such candidates in phase I, 25 candidates in Phase VII, 21 candidates in Phase II, 17 candidates in phase III, 16 in Phase VI besides 10 in phase V respectively. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 95 candidates had cases of hate speech registered against their names.