Congress moves EC seeking arrest of Amit Shah for 'hate speech', ban on his campaigning

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday demanded the arrest of Narendra Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, for “provocative hate speech” and urged the Election Commission to ban him from participating in the electioneering.

The AICC has also demanded the Commission to take stern action against the BJP, Modi along with Shah, charging them with deliberate attempts for “creating animosity between communities” in riot-hit western Uttar Pradesh ahead of elections. Shan, a former minister in Gujarat and now out on bail in a fake-encounter case, is Modi’s hand-picked political manager for Uttar Pradesh.

“The BJP, Modi and Amit Shah are trying to replicate the politics of hatred and communal divide like what was done in 2002 in Gujarat,” AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala said after media reports exposed Shah’s speeches a Muzaffarnagar with huge communal overtone, asking Jats to wreck revenge on a minority community.

Surjewala further said, “We will make a demand to the (UP) state government and Election Commission that a criminal case is lodged against Amit Shah and Muzaffarnagar riots accused MLA Suresh Rana and they should be prevented from campaigning in any part of the country. There should be a complete ban on them.”

The Congress’ petition quoted a media report and said Shah has made a “provocative hate speech” in a Muzaffarnagar village “to cause animosity between two communities, where communal violence had taken place recently and a large number of innocent persons were brutally killed”. The party said that “the memory of the ghastly and deplorable incident is still vivid in the minds of the people”.