Mumbai BJP chief gets notice for hate speech

Mumbai: The Election Commission (EC) issued a show-cause notice to the BJP’s Mumbai president Mangal Prabhat Lodha for an alleged communal speech during an election rally in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The EC has directed Mr Lodha to clarify a statement where he allegedly said that bombs and bullets used during the 1992 riots in Mumbai were manufactured in minority-dominated areas.

The EC officials said that the action was taken based on an audio recording of such statements during Lodha’s rally in Mumbadevi, which has a sizeable Muslim population. Mumbadevi returning officer Vishwas Gujar, who issued the notice, said that a team of EC officers was present at the venue to record the speech. According to officials, he hinted that the explosives used for blasts in the early nineties in Mumbai were “manufactured in the lanes within 5km.”

In the recording of his alleged speech, he can be heard saying, “In the 1992 riots, remember the blasts that took place and many bullets were fired. They were fired in lanes that are just five km (away) here. Serial blasts ripped through the city in March 1993, killing over 250 persons after the Mumbai riots,” according to a news agency.

The EC would decide the action that needs to be taken against Lodha within 48 hours.

The AAP slammed the leader, saying terms such as riots, bombs and bullets were used to describe voters from minority areas who preferred Opposition parties. AAP national spo-kesperson Preeti Shar-ma Menon said, “Mr Lodha’s comments are indicative of the regressive RSS psyche and is proof of the BJP’s anti-minority and anti-poor bias.”