Hours after the Election Commission ordered the Bihar chief election officer to impose a ban on two BJP advertisements, following a complaint by leaders of the grand secular alliance calling it “commu
Hours after the Election Commission ordered the Bihar chief election officer to impose a ban on two BJP advertisements, following a complaint by leaders of the grand secular alliance calling it “communal”, the BJP on Saturday accused the Nitish Kumar-led grand secular alliance for doing appeasement politics by putting an advertisement on Pakistani news website.
Reiterating their earlier stand on Pakistan, the BJP leaders on Saturday linked the advertisement on Pakistani newspaper the Dawn with appeasement politics. Speaking on the issue, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said “what kind of message is Nitish Kumar trying to spread by giving an advertisement to a Pakistani newspaper. Is it an effort to appease Bihari people who have their relatives in Pakistan ”
Chief minister Nitish Kumar in a hard hitting reply to the leaders of the NDA attacked Prime Minister narendra Modi saying that “it’s hilarious that ministers and leaders of a government which talks about digital India are unaware of basic facts”. Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, he asked him to hold separate training camps for leaders and ministers of his party.
Dismissing allegations by the NDA leaders that he had given advertisement on the Pakistani news website, Mr Kumar tweeted, “Before giving such hilarious statements they should also look at Modi Ji’s 2014 Lok Sabha Google Ads.” “During their Lok Sabha election in 2014 Rajnath Singh Ji and Modi Ji were asking for donation from Pakistani Newspapers,”. he added.
Shortly after clarifying his stand on the ad row, chief minister Nitish Kumar launched an attack on the Prime Minister accusing him and his leaders for misleading people by adding communal color during the polls.
“Modiji, I am ready to debate the issue of reservation with you any day, stop misleading people and your efforts to add communal colour to Bihar polls,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a strongly worded advisory, the Election Commission on Saturday asked political parties in Bihar not to publish advertisements that have the potential to create mutual hatred and ill-will among different social and religious communities so that the peaceful atmosphere is not vitiated.
The commission has directed the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bihar to ask political parties, workers and candidates to also provide poll authorities with a copy of advertisement sent to print media for publication.
The advisory said the state CEO Bihar will direct all national and state parties not to publish advertisements that have the potential to create disharmony and create ill-will among various communities based on social and religious lines.
