SHILLONG: Congress candidate for Tura by-poll Dikkanchi D Shira has landed up in trouble for her comment that BJP was against the minorities including Christians in the state made at an election rally.
The returning officer for Tura Parliamentary constituency Pravin Bakshi has lodged an FIR against her for violation of model code of conduct while campaigning for by polls.
The FIR was lodged while responding to a complaint filed the state unit of BJP protesting a ‘communal speech’ Dikkanchi had delivered during an election rally recently.
Bakshi had earlier issued a notice to the Congress candidate in seeking a clarification in this connection.
However, since the reply given by the Congress party was not satisfactory, the FIR was lodged by the Returning Officer.
Earlier on Friday, the Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Kharkongor had said that a clarification was sought from the Congress candidate regarding the comments she made during an election rally.
On May 2 in one of the campaigns at Dadenggre , Shira had said, “NPP and the BJP have an agreement for five years in which they would leave Tura for the NPP. But the NPP would be working on the BJP agenda. The BJP cannot protect minorities like Christians and Muslims”. Shira had also said that it was only the Congress which stood for minorities.When contacted, Bakshi said in a text message, “The action was as per the instruction of Election Commission for violation of Model Code of conduct and after referring the matter to observers”.
According to sources, the Returning officer examined the three videos of her speech at Daddengre and found that two had elements of hate speech.
Official sources said that following the FIR, police would initiate further investigation into the matter.
Police, meanwhile, has registered a case under 153 (A) of IPC which talks about promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.
Following the media reports, the BJP on May 4 had issued a statement to the media stating that it was a violation of model code of conduct and tantamount to hate speech.
