– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, May 10: ‘Yecchara, Yecchara, Yecchara’ (beware, beware, beware) the Congress party “favouring” Muslims at the expense of other communities like the SCs and the STs was the message conveyed through an animated video by the BJP posted on social media platform X.
Bengaluru police on Thursday summoned and questioned Prashant Makanur, the convener of Karnataka BJP’s social media wing, over the controversial animated video targeting Muslims. “He was questioned to know who the video’s creator is,” a police source close to the case said. “As he had availed an interim bail, he was released after questioning and completing the procedure.”
Weeks after the Election Commission was notified about an alleged hate speech made by Narendra Modi, the prime minister’s party, BJP, has posted an anti-Muslim cartoon on May 4 which remained online throughout the final leg of polling to the Lok Sabha in Karnataka. The post that went live on the social media handles of BJP Karnataka around 5.30 pm on Saturday had not been taken down till 7 pm on Tuesday, May 7 when the final leg of polling in the southern state was held.
The objectionable post gained over 9.3 million views on X, despite the Commission filing an FIR against it and urging the social media platform to take it down. In a letter to the nodal officer of ‘X’, the EC took exception to the non-compliance of the directive of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer to the social media platform for taking down the video.
The panel said the animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the BJP on its social media handle was violative of the extant legal framework.
On May 5, the High Grounds police filed a First Information Report (FIR) under IPC Section 505 (2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred, or ill-will between classes) and Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act following a complaint by Ramesh Babu, chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Party’s Media and Communication Wing.
The High Grounds police issued notices of appearances on May 6 to BJP national president JP Nadda, the party’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya and Karnataka president BY Vijayendra. Later, the Election Commission of India (ECI) directed X to take down the post.
