Kolkata, April 14 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday filed a complaint to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal against the District Electoral Officer (DEO) of Kolkata South over the latter’s social media post released where a popular Bollywood song was used to spread the message of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure free and fair and violence-free elections in the forthcoming two-phased Assembly elections in the state scheduled later this month.
The song was “Hum Pyar Karne Wale Duniya Se Na Darne Wale” (We the lovebirds will not be scared of the world) from the movie ‘Dil’, which was released nationally in June 1990 and featured Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher, and Saeed Jaffrey, among others, in the lead roles.
Vibhu Goel, the DEO of Kolkata (South), uploaded this song on X, with the message being loud and clear that “just as the lovebirds are not scared of this world and the society, the ECI is also not bothered about the criticism it faces in the course of achieving its mission to ensure free, fair, and violence-free polls in West Bengal this time”.
In the message attached with the video, the DEO of Kolkata South has also advised anti-social elements to be ready with “ointments like Burnol and Boroline to apply on the itching and burning sensations because of the counteractions by the security forces to prevent any attempt to disrupt the peaceful polling process”.
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday filed a complaint with the West Bengal CEO strongly objecting to the social media post by the DEO of Kolkata South.
“While the post ostensibly purports to encourage free and fair voting, it employs language that is manifestly threatening, coercive, and wholly unbecoming of a constitutional authority entrusted with the conduct of elections. The references to ‘intimidators, hooligans, history sheeters and lumpens’, coupled with statements advising such persons to ‘keep sufficient stocks of burnol and boroline’, and warning that they will ‘burn from inside and remember it for lifetime’, culminating in the assertion that even such remedies won’t help when dealt with by the ‘heavy hand of law’ amount to veiled threats of harm and retribution issued from an official position of authority,” the complaint letter from Trinamool Congress said, a copy of which is available with IANS.
According to the Trinamool Congress, the impugned post was in clear breach of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which mandates that no activity will be undertaken that aggravates existing differences or creates mutual hatred or tension between different groups.
“The statements contained in the impugned post also constitute criminal intimidation within the meaning of Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, since they amount to threats of injury intended to cause alarm and deter persons from acting in a particular manner. The invocation of the “heavy hand of law” in a threatening and personalised context, coupled with imagery of harm, goes beyond a legitimate advisory and enters the realm of coercion and intimidation,” the letter said.
The ruling party’s leadership in West Bengal had also requested the ECI to immediately direct the Kolkata South DEO to remove the social media post and initiate disciplinary action against him.
–IANS
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