Election Commission declines comment on Modi’s hate speech in Rajasthan

The Election Commission of India has declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks made during a poll speech in Rajasthan.

A spokesperson for the poll panel on Monday stated, "We decline to comment," when asked about the Prime Minister's speech.

During his speech on Sunday, PM Modi suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims.

"This 'urban Naxal' mindset, mothers and sisters, will not even leave your 'mangalsutra'. They can go to that extent. The Congress manifesto claims it will calculate the gold possessed by mothers and sisters, gather information about it, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom? Manmohan Singh's government had said Muslims have the first right on the country's assets," Modi said in the rally.

Despite the speech being factually incorrect and in clear violation of the model code of conduct, the EC refused to comment on it.

To support the Prime Minister's claim, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted a 22-second clip of Dr Manmohan Singh's speech from December 2006. 

"The Congress doesn't trust their own Prime Minister?" the party said.

The statement by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in December 2006 that Modi was referring to was at a meeting of the National Development Council regarding the fiscal priorities of the government. 

After the statement sparked significant controversy, the office of the former Prime Minister issued a clarification addressing what it termed a “deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation.”

According to the then Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Dr Singh had stated, "I believe our collective priorities are clear: agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programs for the upliftment of SC/STs, Other Backward Classes [OBCs], minorities, and women and children.

"The component plans for Scheduled Castes [SCs] and Scheduled Tribes [STs] will need to be revitalised. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the overall resource availability," it said.

The PMO clarified that it should be evident from the above that the Prime Minister's reference to "first claim on resources" pertains to all the "priority" areas listed, including programs for the upliftment of SCs, STs, OBCs, women, children, and minorities.