New Delhi, April 28
Aam Aadmi Party senior leader Ms. Atishi said the Election Commission, which has become a political weapon of the BJP, has banned AAP’s campaign song ‘Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se Denge’. This is the first time in the history of the country that the Election Commission of India has banned the campaign song of any party to stop the campaign, she said.
Addressing a press conference here today, she stated that the BJP has yet again brought its dictatorial face to the fore. Today, once again they have put the proof of their dictatorship in the open. Once again, it has been proved that the PM Narendra Modi and the BJP are afraid of Shri Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. The BJP-led central government implicated Delhi’s Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal in a false case and arrested him right after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. They have arrested the Chief Minister only to prevent him from campaigning. It happens only under dictatorial governments that opposition leaders are put in jail, opposition parties are prevented from campaigning, these are the characteristics of a dictatorial government.
Showing the EC’s letter putting a ban on the campaign song, she stated, “This is exactly what has happened today. Another political weapon of the BJP, the Election Commission of India, has put a ban on the Aam Party’s campaign song through this letter. This is probably the first time in the history of India that the poll body has banned a party’s election campaign song. This is the same Election Commission which sees nothing when the BJP is making fun of the Model Code of Conduct on a daily basis. But if the AAP leaders even breathe, they are served another notice. When the BJP misuses the ED and CBI to put the opposition leaders in jail during the Model Code of Conduct, the EC has no objection to it. But if the AAP even writes it in a song, the EC raises various objections, she added.
Ms. Atishi further stated that according to the EC, the song ‘Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se Denge’ shows the ruling party (BJP) and investigation agencies in a bad light. Lashing out at the EC’s hypocrisy, she said that you would not change the head of the CBI, you would not change the ED’s Director or IT’s Director during elections, you would not do anything to stop the attack on the opposition. But if someone mentions in their campaign that fraudulent arrests are being made, then the EC takes objection to it.
Condemning the BJP and the probe agencies, she stated, “When BJP’s washing machine runs, opposition leaders go to the BJP one by one, their ED, CBI, ACB, Economic Offense Wing cases are closed, and yet the Election Commission of India has no objection in that. But when it is mentioned in the campaign song, the Election Commission of India objects to it and says that it is wrong to use this in the campaign.”
The senior AAP leader said that it is right if the BJP exercises dictatorship, but if anyone propagates about that dictatorship then it is wrong. And the most interesting thing is that throughout the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign song ‘Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se Denge’, there is no mention of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s name anywhere, but the Election Commission of India says that ‘if you talk about dictatorship, this is a criticism of the ruling party.’ That means the Election Commission of India itself believes that the BJP is running a dictatorial rule in this country. They are considering any opposition to dictatorship as opposition to the BJP, any talk of dictatorship is being considered as the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because they also know that today the BJP is showing signs of absolute dictatorship.
Ms. Atishi said that the way opposition leaders are being put in jail using probe agencies like the ED, the CBI, the way Congress’s bank accounts have been frozen and now the campaign of the AAP is being banned. This clearly shows that today India’s democracy is in danger and the BJP has turned India into a dictatorship.
Reminding the EC of its legacy, the senior AAP leader stated, “I would like to remind the EC and the three commissioners of the Election Commission of India that you are the successors of Election Commissioner like TN Seshan. He is still remembered even after so many years because he gave a new identity to free and fair elections in India. I hereby make this appeal to today’s Election Commissioners. I really hope that after a few years, the elections of 2024 should not be remembered as the election in which India’s democracy ended, in which the Election Commission was not neutral, in which the Election Commission became a political weapon of the BJP. This was the election in which India’s election became Pakistan’s election.”
She further appealed to the Election Commission to pay attention to the fact that the BJP is flouting the Model Code of Conduct every day and stop the work of stalling the election campaign of the opposition.
Answering a reporter’s question, Ms. Atishi stated, “The campaign song does not mention the BJP and does not violate the Model Code of Conduct. It includes factual videos and incidents, whether it is the picture of Shri Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, whether it is the video of police’s misbehaviour with Shri Manish Sisodia in the Rouse Avenue Court, whether it is the brutal detention of our volunteers in protests, everything is factual. Does the EC want to suppress the truth? Does the poll agency want to hide the misconduct of the police or the political misuse of the probe agencies by the BJP?” she concluded.
