Karnataka state Congress leaders on Wednesday filed a police complaint against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly “spreading enmity and hatred, knowingly making false statements and attempting to malign the opposition”.
Randeep Singh Surjewala, Dr Parmeshwar and DK Shivakumar filed the complaint at Bengaluru’s High Grounds police station.
“Amit Shah claimed that there will be communal riots in Karnataka if Congress comes to power. Shah also claimed that Congress has promised to remove the ban on PFI. Both these claims tantamount to spreading hatred, disrupting communal harmony and attributing false motives to the Indian National Congress,” Surjewala told reporters.
On Tuesday, Shah attacked the Opposition in an election rally and said, “If the Congress is voted even by mistake, then it will lead to all-time high corruption, appeasement and all-time high dynastic politics, and the entire state will suffer from riots.”
The state assembly election on 10 May is heating up in Karnataka.
“These statements, which were widely reported in the media, make two things amply evident; (i) the statements made by Shri. Amit Shah are designed to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community, and are thereby punishable under Section 505 of the IPC and other provisions of the IPC; (i) the statements indirectly threaten and try to mislead electors into voting for a particular political party and candidate, thereby being punishable under Section 123 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951,” reads the complaint.
