India ruling party deletes X post targeting Muslims after Election Commission order News
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India ruling party deletes X post targeting Muslims after Election Commission order

A post made by the Karnataka branch of India’s ruling political party, BJP, was deleted from X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, following an order by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Indian media reported that the post was no longer visible, with a message saying, “This page doesn’t exist.”

The post, uploaded on May 4, featured an animated video depicting prominent members of the Indian National Congress party (INC), Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, as caricatures. In the video, the former President of INC and chief minister of Karnataka are shown putting eggs in a nest. These eggs are labeled as SC, ST and OBC, which stand for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, respectively. The nest was also depicted to contain a much larger egg, labeled as “Muslim,” which grew into a bird much larger than the other three. The video then shows Gandhi and Siddaramaiah feeding the larger bird more “funds” than the other birds.

This has been criticized for implying that resources are being diverted from the first three groups, who are recognized in India as marginalized, and being given to the Muslim community instead. In a post on X, INC lawmaker Manickam Tagore said, “Blatant demonization of minorities by ruling BJP is unacceptable.”

On May 5, the Karnataka Congress Committee complained that the post violated the Model Code of Conduct set by ECI for the ongoing national elections. The Chief Electoral Officer of the state also sent an order asking for the post to be taken down. On Tuesday, ECI ordered BJP to delete the post, stating that it was “violative of extant legal framework.” Further, a complaint has been filed by INC claiming violation of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The complaint has been registered against the BJP Karnataka Chief, BY Vijayendra and IT Cell head Amit Malviya.

The video was the third of a series of similar videos targeting the Muslim community released on BJP’s national handle and on its Telangana branch account, as part of the party’s election campaign.

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