New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Saturday evening, apologising to “mothers and sisters” of India for failing to ensure passage of women’s reservation bill in Parliament and accusing the Opposition of committing foeticide of the bill.
With the process of holding Assembly elections underway in four states and a Union territory, Opposition parties have raised questions on the timing of Modi’s address to the nation.
Communist Party of India (CPI) MP P Sandosh Kumar has claimed that the Prime Minister violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) his televised address.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Kumar argued that the address — televised on Doordarshan and Sansad TV — contained partisan assertions and direct attempts to influence public opinion while West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Keralam and Puducherry are mid-election, with the MCC in force until May 6.
Modi named the Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in his half-hour speech, accusing them of committing what he called “bhrun hatya” (foeticide) of the women’s reservation bill.
The MP argued that using state-funded national broadcaster to carry what was effectively a political speech gave the ruling party an asymmetric advantage that the MCC is designed to prevent.
“The use of state resources and publicly funded platforms for disseminating what is essentially a political speech constitutes a grave breach of electoral norms,” Kumar wrote in the letter.
‘Misuse of public broadcaster’
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) pointing out the misuse of public broadcaster Doordarshan for political messaging while the Model Code of Conduct is in force and elections to the state assemblies of Tamil Nadu and Bengal are nearing.
CPI(M) has sought proceedings against Modi and others for this violation.
“The content, tone, and messaging of the address can by no stretch of imagination be termed as governmental communication. It was blatantly political, targeting the opposition parties – naming many of them – and seeking to influence public opinion, including the voters of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, in favour of the ruling party. This constitutes a flagrant breach of the MCC provision laid down in Section 4 under the heading ‘Party in Power’ which states: ‘Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided’,” party general secretary M.A. Baby wrote.
Baby further stated that usage of a public broadcaster as a platform for political messaging during an election by the incumbent prime minister “creates an uneven playing field and undermines the principle of free and fair elections,” and urged the ECI to take action.
‘PM desperate and frustrated’
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X that Modi is “desperate and frustrated”, and had misused official machinery to attack opponents.
“A desperate and frustrated PM (Narendra Modi) with nothing meaningful to show for the last 12 years, turned an official address to the nation, into a political speech, full of mudslinging, and outright LIES. The Model Code of Conduct is already in place and it was very clear how PM Modi misused official machinery to attack his opponents. This is a travesty of Democracy and the Constitution of India,” Kharge posted.
“Even with the Model Code of Conduct in place, he chose to blame the Opposition, especially Congress, for his own failures, his own betrayal, and his own apathy,” he added.
Congress leader Anil Akkara filed a separate complaint, alleging that PM Modi misused his official position by naming political parties contesting in poll-bound states during the address and called it a “grave breach of election protocols.”
“In absolute terms, I am of the view that the Opposition should have been offered equal time on all official media channels to voice their concerns and point of view, given the ongoing elections. But the MCC in its present form allows anything not specifically targeted at poll-bound states or Union territories to be done by the Centre or other state governments,” Akkara said.
