A coalition of civil society organisations in Jharkhand on Monday approached the state’s chief electoral officer seeking action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for misleading people with “inflammatory comments” targeting Muslims.

The collective, named Loktantra Bachao 2024 [Save Democracy 2024], complained to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar against speeches that Modi had made on May 3 in Chaibasa and on May 4 in Palamu. In a subsequent statement, they expressed concern that Kumar “showed no sign” that he would act on the complaint.

Four activists – Jean Dreze, Elina Horo, Siraj Dutta and Tom Kavla – comprised the delegation that met with Kumar on Monday.

In the earmarked speeches, Modi alleged that the Congress intends to divert reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes for the benefit of Muslims – a false claim that he has made several times on the campaign trail in recent weeks.

The Congress manifesto, in reality, does not make any mention of religion-based reservations.

The activists also told the electoral officer that Modi had made fabricated facts to the effect that the Congress was planning to rob Adivasis and other communities of their property, which would be redistributed among Muslims.

They also complained against Modi’s use of derogatory terms such as “infiltrators” and “vote jihad”. The Congress manifesto contains no reference to private property being confiscated if it comes to power in the Lok Sabha election.

Loktantra Bachao 2024 alleged that Modi, through such statements, was trying to stoke hatred between Muslims on one hand and Dalits, Adivasis and people from backward communities on the other. It contended that this violated the Model Code of Conduct, a set of guidelines that political parties, candidates and governments have to follow while campaigning.

The collective further alleged that Modi’s speeches constituted an offence under provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with promoting enmity between religions and outraging religious feelings, and that they also violated the Representation of the People Act.

Activists Elina Horo, Jean Drèze, Siraj Dutta and Tom Kavla at the office of the Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer on Monday.

The coalition of civil society organisations also demanded that Modi be barred from giving election speeches in Jharkhand, and asked that strict measures be taken against any inflammatory speeches made during the election campaign.

Loktantra Bachao 2024 said that Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar did not show any interest in the complaint and did not engage with the delegation that approached him.

“When the delegates pressed him on what he intended to do, he simply said that the ‘rules’ would need to be studied, inquiry would have to be made and the complaint would have to be forwarded to the Election Commission of India,” the collective said in a statement. “When the delegation asked the CEO what action would be taken to check such inflammatory and communal speech in the coming days, he remained non-committal.”

Elections in Jharkhand will be held in four phases from May 13 to June 1.

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