Cong wants EC to reprimand Modi for Somalia remark

Upset at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comparison of Kerala with Somalia, Congress on Friday moved the Election Commission seeking strictures against him for “distorting facts and making unverified allegations”.

Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Digvijaya Singh, Motilal Vora and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and also asked him to prohibit Modi from campaigning in Kerala during the ongoing assembly elections.The Congress delegation met the Election Commision at 5 pm.

The campaigning for the Kerala assembly elections ends on Saturday at 5 pm. The Congress leaders said Modi had violated Clause 2 of the Model Code of Conduct by criticising other parties and their workers by making “unverified allegations”.

“The Prime Minister’s statement comparing the state of Kerala to another country, Somalia, is sheer distortion of facts and rather tantamount to an unverified allegation completely devoid of any merit and hence, in violation of Clause 2 of MCC,” the Congress memorandum said.

The Congress demanded “appropriate action” against Modi for violating the model code of conduct. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had written a hard-hitting letter to the prime minister and requested him to show some ‘political decency’ by withdrawing the statement as they were ‘baseless and contrary to ground realities’.

Addressing an election rally in Kerala, Modi had compared the state with Somalia.“The situation with the child death ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is scarier than even Somalia. Recently, one came across a tragic picture in the media. In Peravoor, which is seen as a stronghold of the Communist party, where it has always won, there, Scheduled Tribe children were seen foraging for food in a garbage dump,” the prime minister had said.