Ahmedabad: The Gujarat unit of the BJP has complained to the Election Commission (EC) against Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia for using ‘unparliamentary’ language and words like ‘donkey’ while criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a letter to the EC headquarters in New Delhi, the state BJP’s legal cell said Wednesday the remarks were an insult to the constitutional post and a violation of the model code of conduct.
“Modhwadia during a public rally at Deesa town in Banaskantha district uttered unparliamentary, abusive and foul words against the Prime Minister by describing him as a ‘donkey’,” said the letter, released Thursday by the BJP. “This is a clear violation of the election code of conduct and an insult to the constitutional post,” the letter stated.
Claiming that the Congress leader had a ‘record’ of using abusive language against the Prime Minister since the 2000 Gujarat polls, the BJP demanded strict and prompt action against him.
The party also sent a copy of the letter to Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer S Murali Krishna.
Modhwadia, a former Gujarat Congress president, Tuesday said during a rally that only donkeys have a 56-inch chest. He was referring to a statement made by Modi in the build-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election. It was in Uttar Pradesh that Modi, who was the then Gujarat Chief Minister, had said that it takes a ‘56-inch chest’ to convert Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat in terms of development.
“A fit person has a chest of 36 inches, a body-builder can have a chest of 42 inches, it is only donkeys who have a chest of 56 inches, and bulls have a chest of 100 inches,” Modhwadia said during the rally. “Bhakts (Modi fans) do not understand this point and are happy when someone says their leader has a 56-inch chest,” he added.