File photo of Sonia Gandhi.
BJP today petitioned the Election Commission to stop Congress President Sonia Gandhi from airing her message on Doordarshan and AIR and said it violates of the Model Code as it polarises the election scene among religious communities.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, BJP alleged that Congress party is planning to use one of its earlier advertisements already aired through private TV channels on Doordarshan and AIR using one of the free slots allotted to it.
"The standard rule is that the slots can be used only for short speeches or messages by the party functionaries to whom the slots are given and also that the content should be recorded in the Doordarshan/AIR studios in a prescribed backdrop. All these norms are violated in the instant case," a BJP communication said.
The letter from BJP MP R Ramakrishna says, "It should also be remembered that the message by Sonia Gandhi is violative of the model code of conduct since it polarises the election scene among religious communities.
"By innuendo, she has divided India into Bharat and Hindustan; all of us know to which languages and more so, to which religious communities these descriptions of India are attributable," the BJP said, asking the Election Commission to disallow this request of the Congress Party.
In the appeal telecast on various TV channels, Mrs Gandhi had said that the current Lok Sabha elections was a fight to protect "the very heart and soul of India" from those who want to divide the people of this country.
Without naming either Narendra Modi or BJP in her telecast, Mrs Gandhi said, "We want unity. They want to impose uniformity. They say, 'Just believe in ME'."