EC issues notice to Modi over Sohrabuddin remark

SPEECH TROUBLE: Modi claims that Sonia Gandhi provoked him into raking up the Sohrabuddin controversy.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Television, for politicians with a vision

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• Not me, Cong is Merchant of Death: Modi tells Sonia
• Petitioners drag Modi to SC, want FIR against him
• Modi gets a breather, Sohrab case adjourned to Wed

Keywords: Sohrabuddin Sheikh , Election Commission

New Delhi: Narendra Modi’s campaign rhetoric is almost predictably reaching the gates of the Election Commission.

After viewing the CD the Chief Minster’s speech, the commission has given Modi just 36 hours time to reply to their notice.

And the political echoes have already begun to be heard. While Modi claims that Sonia Gandhi provoked him into raking up the Sohrabuddin controversy, the BJP leadership isn’t backing down.

Keen to play the Hindutva card in Gujarat, the party doesn’t seem too concerned at the embarrassment of senior counsel for the Gujarat government withdrawing from the case.

“W will try and convince KTS, but if he doesn't listen, there are other lawyers,” says BJP leader, V K Malhotra.

And the Congress is attempting to play the Modi controversy more carefully. While its state leadership doesn’t seem keen to join the Gujarat Chief Minister in a war of words, worried about any possible religious polarisation, the Congress leaders in Delhi seem keen to derive maximum political mileage.

“Any self respecting lawyer will not fight the case,” says Congress leader, Kapil Sibal.

And the controversy could now reach the courts too. Senior counsel Prashant Bhushan is planning to file a petition making Modi a co-accused in the Sohrabuddin murder case.

"This is clearly an incitement to extra judicial killings it is also an incitement on communal lines. These are serious offences under the Penal Code," says lawyer, Supreme Court, Prashant Bhushan

According to the guidelines of the Election Commission Modi could be in hot water. Section 123 of the Representation of the People's Act states-----“Appeals made on the ground of religion to gather votes in elections shall be deemed to be a 'corrupt practice' and such candidate will be disqualified.”

Modi revels in controversy, and the latest one being over Sohrabuudin may embarrass the BJP nationally.

But in Gujarat the party seems confident that it can use it to their advantage.

And Modi versus the law is a battle the saffron brigade seems ready to risk at this stage of the Gujarat campaign.