New Delhi: Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday alleged the presence of a "foreign hand" in the Congress manifesto and accused the principal Opposition party of planning to distribute people's "property to Muslims", a claim earlier advanced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Calling it an "outrageous" remark, the Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission and alleged that the Minister's speech violated the poll code.
"In the Congress manifesto, along with the hand of the Congress, hands of foreign forces are also visible who want to give your children's property to Muslims, finish the nations nuclear weapons, divide the nation on casteism and regionalism," Mr Thakur said at a rally in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur.
"The tukde-tukde gang has surrounded Congress completely and has hijacked their ideology. You have to decide whether the children's property should remain with them or should it go to Muslims. We gave all rights to Muslims, equally. But we did not give it based on religion, we gave it because it was their right," he added.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in its complaint against Mr Thakur it has sought "immediate and meaningful" action against him, failing which they will "name and shame the offenders".
"Today, Anurag Thakur followed in the footsteps of the PM and the UP Chief Minister and made a most outrageous speech that violates all standards of decency and truth, apart from the EC's Model Code of Conduct itself.
"@INCIndia has written to the ECI to take note of the speech and issue Mr. Thakur a notice immediately. The ECI must realise that a lack of meaningful action emboldens these bad faith actions. And if they do not take action then we will name and shame these offenders who think they are above the law, both in the arena of the public as well as before the courts," Mr Ramesh said in a post on 'X'.
The Minister's attack follows fierce sparring between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top Opposition leaders over claims that the Congress will seize the wealth of Indians and distribute it among Muslims. At rallies in Rajasthan's Tonk and Madhya Pradesh's Sagar, the PM alleged that the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government had said Muslims have the first right to the country's wealth.
The remarks have sparked a massive row, with one section criticising the Prime Minister for using expressions such as "infiltrators" for Muslims, and another section slamming Dr Singh over his alleged remarks.
In a five-minute video message posted on the BJP's X handle yesterday, BJP party chief JP Nadda also repeated controversial sections from the Prime Minister's Rajasthan speech - in which he referred to Muslims and said the Congress plans to "redistribute wealth to infiltrators" - and said, "Congress says Muslims have first right on country's resources, whereas PM Modi says poor people must have the first right…"
"BJP does not want Muslims to be neglected… but they should not take undue advantage at expense of others," Mr Nadda declared, as he slammed the Congress for "appeasement politics" and claimed such practices were evident in its manifesto - which the PM called a "Muslim League imprint".
Mr Thakur and Mr Nadda's remarks come just days after the Election Commission sent a notice to the party based on a complaint by the Congress against the Prime Minister, alleging he made divisive remarks during his Rajasthan speech. The notice - in a significant first - said party bosses would be held accountable for Model Code violations in campaign speeches and materials.
The poll panel sent a nearly identical notice to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, after the BJP filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, claiming he had made "obnoxious utterances" against Mr Modi.
In a two-page statement - which did not name either the Prime Minister or Mr Gandhi but included copies of the complaints - the poll body said "'star campaigners' are expected to contribute to a higher quality of discourse... which sometimes gets distorted in the heat of contests at local level".