File picture of Imran Masood. He was arrested for making a hate speech.
New Delhi:
As Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed rallies in Delhi and Assam on Sunday, her focus was on the politics of divide.
"There is one party which wants to pit brother against brother but the Congress does not wish ill even of the Opposition," she said in her Delhi rally.
But despite this sobering thought, the Congress can hardly take a moral high ground as their Saharanpur candidate, Imran Masood, is the first Lok Sabha candidate to have been arrested for making a hate speech. And despite "disapproving" Mr Masood's remarks, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi campaigned for him on Saturday.
The BJP asked the Election Commission to debar Mr Masood from contesting but the Congress countered this. They wrote to the commission saying Mr Masood's speech was made on September 18 last year when he was a member of the Samajwadi Party.
On the other side of the divide, on Saturday Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who has been campaigning for the BJP, too made a personal attack on Mrs Gandhi by comparing her to a demoness.
In a divided polity, political parties are using hate speeches as a political strategy with an aim to further polarise the votes on religious, caste and regional lines.
In Saharanpur, where 42 per cent of the voters are from the minority community, Mr Masood's speech was clearly aimed at polarising the Muslim votes.
The reason why parties repeatedly falter is because very few politicians have been convicted. From Varun Gandhi to Akbaruddin Owaisi, most have gotten away. The Election Commission does not have too many powers to act against offenders except to freeze the symbol of a repeated offender. Again, that's a provision that has been rarely used.
So, as political parties are slugging it out in the Battle for 2014, India's longest elections ever, the challenge for the Election Commission will be to keep the political discourse dignified.
"There is one party which wants to pit brother against brother but the Congress does not wish ill even of the Opposition," she said in her Delhi rally.
But despite this sobering thought, the Congress can hardly take a moral high ground as their Saharanpur candidate, Imran Masood, is the first Lok Sabha candidate to have been arrested for making a hate speech. And despite "disapproving" Mr Masood's remarks, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi campaigned for him on Saturday.
The BJP asked the Election Commission to debar Mr Masood from contesting but the Congress countered this. They wrote to the commission saying Mr Masood's speech was made on September 18 last year when he was a member of the Samajwadi Party.
On the other side of the divide, on Saturday Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who has been campaigning for the BJP, too made a personal attack on Mrs Gandhi by comparing her to a demoness.
In a divided polity, political parties are using hate speeches as a political strategy with an aim to further polarise the votes on religious, caste and regional lines.
In Saharanpur, where 42 per cent of the voters are from the minority community, Mr Masood's speech was clearly aimed at polarising the Muslim votes.
The reason why parties repeatedly falter is because very few politicians have been convicted. From Varun Gandhi to Akbaruddin Owaisi, most have gotten away. The Election Commission does not have too many powers to act against offenders except to freeze the symbol of a repeated offender. Again, that's a provision that has been rarely used.
So, as political parties are slugging it out in the Battle for 2014, India's longest elections ever, the challenge for the Election Commission will be to keep the political discourse dignified.
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