Himanta defends speech against Akbar; says Congress withheld material info from EC
Guwahati (PTI): Notwithstanding the show-cause notice by the Election Commission for his alleged "communally charged statements", Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday defended his speech and said it was a "legitimate criticism" of Chhattisgarh Minister Mohammed Akbar.
The Election Commission on Thursday slapped a show-cause notice to Sarma for prima facie violation of the Model Code of Conduct and asked him to respond by October 30 evening.
"Congress has withheld the material information from the Hon'ble Election Commission that Mohammed Akbar is their candidate from Kawardha Constituency. Therefore legitimate criticism of a candidate does not amount to communal politics," Sarma said in a post on X.
The senior BJP leader asserted that the Congress will have to face the legal consequence of not revealing the crucial fact in their representation.
"I have full faith in the collection (sic) wisdom of the Hon'ble Election Commission," he added.
The Assam chief minister was reacting to a post on the microblogging site by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who termed the BJP leader a "serial offender" and hoped that the poll watchdog will take this case to its "logical conclusion".
Sarma made the remarks targeting Akbar during the assembly poll campaign on October 18 in Kawardha in Chhattisgarh.
In a speech in Kawardha in Chhattisgarh on October 18, Sarma had taken a controversial dig at Akbar saying that "the land of Mata Kaushalya will get defiled if Akbar isn't sent off."
"If one Akbar comes to some place, he calls 100 Akbars. So, send him off as soon as possible, otherwise the land of Mata Kaushalya will get defiled," he had said.
Mata Kaushalya, the mother of Lord Ram, is believed to hail from what is modern-day Chhattisgarh.
The Congress on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Sarma for his remarks against Akbar.
The party had alleged that Sarma's remarks showed a clear-cut intention to incite sections of society against one another.
While issuing the notice to Sarma, the Election Commission reminded him of a provision in the poll code which states that "no party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic."
Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly will be held in two phases - on November 7 and 17.
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3 held, hunt on for 4 accomplices after they kidnap, assault and urinate on man in Bhopal
Bhopal (PTI): Police have registered a case against seven persons and arrested three of them for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting and urinating on a 22-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, officials said on Thursday.
The incident occurred during the intervening night of April 26 and 27 in an area located under the Hanumanganj police station limits, an official said.
One of the accused urinated on the face of the victim and captured a video of the act, which was later circulated on social media to humiliate him, he said.
"A complaint in this connection was lodged by Jaswant Markam (22), a resident of Kamla Nagar, based on which a case was registered against seven persons under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and police have arrested three of them, including one Prem Thapa," Bhopal Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said.
Three police teams have been formed and the remaining suspects will be apprehended soon, he said.
During the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, Markam was at the local bus stand with a friend when around 4 am, the accused took him away on the pretext of discussing something with him. They asked him about his neighbour and friend Aniket. When he refused to provide any information, they started assaulting him, the police said.
The accused then took him to a forest in Karond area, where he was stripped and severely thrashed, they said.
When the man began to lose consciousness, one of the accused urinated on his face and made a video of the act, which was circulated on social media to humiliate him and spread terror, according to the police.
The accused called Markam's friend around 5 am to inform him about his condition. The victim was subsequently admitted to a hospital, the officials said, adding that the viral video was also being investigated.
Responding to a query, Hanumanganj police station in-charge Awdhesh Bhadoria said if the victim was found to be from the tribal community, then relevant sections will be invoked against the accused.
At present, the police are probing the incident and search is on to arrest the remaining accused, he added.
In 2023, a man had urinated on a tribal youth in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media platforms and created a controversy.
