On May 4th, the Karnataka unit of India’s ruling party, BJP, uploaded a post on X, which was subsequently deleted as mandated by the Election Commission of India (ECI). This deletion was reported by various Indian media outlets and confirmed by the platform’s message,”this page doesn’t exist.”
The contentious post included an animated video that caricatured Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from the Indian National Congress party (INC). The video showed these characters depositing eggs, labelled as SC, ST, and OBC (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes), into a nest. There was a significantly larger egg, labelled as “Muslim”, that grew into a bird much larger than the rest. It was also shown being fed more “funds” than the other birds.
The video has faced widespread criticism for the insinuation that resources are being diverted from marginalized groups (SC, ST, and OBC) towards the Muslim community, which is not recognized as a marginalized group under India’s constitution. This was solidified in a post by INC lawmaker Manickam Tagore, who described the BJP’s depiction of minorities as “blatant demonization” and thus unequivocally “unacceptable”.
Following this controversy, the Karnataka Congress Committee lodged an official complaint on May 5th, stating that the BJP’s post violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) established by the ECI for the ongoing national elections. Shortly thereafter, the Chief Electoral Officer of the state demanded the removal of the post. The ECI issued an order on May 7th requiring the BJP to delete the contentious post on grounds that it contravened existing legal frameworks. Additionally, the INC has filed a complaint under the Information Technology Act, 2000 against BJP Karnataka Chief BY Vijayendra and IT Cell head Amit Malviya.
This controversial video is just one among a series of videos targeting the Muslim community that were released on BJP’s national handle and its Telengana branch account during the party’s election campaign.