prasad1
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Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development, recently issued a veiled threat to Muslims that if they don’t vote for her, she will not to do anything for them. The speech was caught on camera — the video went viral. The minister reportedly said that she is certainly winning the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but if her win is secured without Muslim votes, her heart would turn sour against Muslims, and thereafter, if they come to her for some work, she would not do it, because after all, nobody is the ‘child of Mahatma Gandhi’, everything is quid pro quo.
Her statement caused nationwide social media outrage, with opposition leaders across the board condemning her. The district election officer of Sultanpur, where the speech was made, served a notice to the minister and she was barred from campaigning for 48 hours. On Sunday though, she made another veiled threat, this time profiling each village on the basis of how many votes she receives from there and accordingly, whichever village will cast maximum votes in her favour would apparently receive the maximum development work.
It remains to be seen whether the Election Commission would issue another notice to her — and what would be the outcome of these notices. Earlier this month, the EC had found both UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar guilty of violating the MCC. In terms of penalty, the EC expressed “displeasure” and told them to “exercise caution in future”.
In this web of blatant communal threats and hate speeches, the farcical MCC, the seemingly toothless EC and the ritualistic outrage by opposition leaders, where do common citizens stand?
How are those who are at the receiving end of these threats and hate speeches supposed to interpret the situation?
First, we should understand the purpose behind these statements. Both the statements by Maneka Gandhi are targeted at undecided voters who usually tend to vote for the winning side. Her attempt is to pull the fence sitters towards her by creating an impression that she is winning. Technically, the claim, “I am winning” has no basis. We have a secret ballot system and unless the last vote is cast, nobody knows who is winning — yet, this impression is created because there is a section of the Indian electorate which does not like to be seen standing with the losing side.
Much of the BJP’s campaign is also designed to achieve this purpose.
On social media, there are thousands of profiles and pages, some carrying fake names, fake display photographs and so on, all of them sharing and resharing each other’s content, running Twitter trends and creating an impression that the BJP’s popularity is at its peak and organic. However, according to a recent media report, the entire perception is created by a handful of keyboard warriors, employed by a lesser known women’s NGO turned digital media company.
Baseless statement like, “I am wining, so you better vote for me”, therefore, best be ignored.
www.dailyo.in
Her statement caused nationwide social media outrage, with opposition leaders across the board condemning her. The district election officer of Sultanpur, where the speech was made, served a notice to the minister and she was barred from campaigning for 48 hours. On Sunday though, she made another veiled threat, this time profiling each village on the basis of how many votes she receives from there and accordingly, whichever village will cast maximum votes in her favour would apparently receive the maximum development work.
It remains to be seen whether the Election Commission would issue another notice to her — and what would be the outcome of these notices. Earlier this month, the EC had found both UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar guilty of violating the MCC. In terms of penalty, the EC expressed “displeasure” and told them to “exercise caution in future”.
In this web of blatant communal threats and hate speeches, the farcical MCC, the seemingly toothless EC and the ritualistic outrage by opposition leaders, where do common citizens stand?
How are those who are at the receiving end of these threats and hate speeches supposed to interpret the situation?
First, we should understand the purpose behind these statements. Both the statements by Maneka Gandhi are targeted at undecided voters who usually tend to vote for the winning side. Her attempt is to pull the fence sitters towards her by creating an impression that she is winning. Technically, the claim, “I am winning” has no basis. We have a secret ballot system and unless the last vote is cast, nobody knows who is winning — yet, this impression is created because there is a section of the Indian electorate which does not like to be seen standing with the losing side.
Much of the BJP’s campaign is also designed to achieve this purpose.
On social media, there are thousands of profiles and pages, some carrying fake names, fake display photographs and so on, all of them sharing and resharing each other’s content, running Twitter trends and creating an impression that the BJP’s popularity is at its peak and organic. However, according to a recent media report, the entire perception is created by a handful of keyboard warriors, employed by a lesser known women’s NGO turned digital media company.
Baseless statement like, “I am wining, so you better vote for me”, therefore, best be ignored.
What Amit Shah and Maneka Gandhi need to be reminded about Indian Constitution
Opposition leaders should call out both leaders' statements and reassure anxious voters that it's not so easy to just take away people’s rights.
