PM Modi's BJP posts anti-Muslim cartoon

Weeks after the Election Commission was notified about an alleged hate speech made by Narendra Modi, the prime minister's party, BJP, has posted an anti-Muslim cartoon.

The BJP Karnataka posted the offensive cartoon on its social media handles around 5.30 pm on Saturday. In less than 5 hours the post received 1.5 million views on X (formerly Twitter) alone. The Congress party in Karnataka has yet to condemn the post.

The cartoon shows a bird's nest with three eggs labelled 'SC' (Scheduled Caste), 'ST' (Scheduled Tribe) and 'OBC' (Other Backward Class). Two characters resembling Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah, who is also the Chief Minister of Karnataka, appear with a larger egg, titled 'Muslims', and place it in the nest.

The eggs hatch and the larger egg brings out an angry little bird wearing a scull cap while the other chicks tremble in fear. The characters resembling Rahul and Siddaramaiah reappear and the former feeds the larger chick from a bag labelled 'funds' while the other chicks cry out of hunger. Once properly fed, the bird grows bigger and kicks out the other chicks and every character in the frame bursts out laughing.

In his response to the cartoon, Karnataka minister for health and family welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao wrote that the desperation drove BJP to put out blatant lies and hate messages. "How desperate and frustrated are BJP? After ruling for 10 years, is this their route to win elections? Fear of losing making them divide society through blatant lies claims hate messages (sic)," he posted on X. He also urged the Election Commission to take action against the party for the cartoon. 

In his controversial speech during an election campaign in Rajasthan recently, PM Modi claimed that the Congress had reserved the first right over resources to Muslims. "They will gather your wealth and distribute it among those with more children,” Modi told the crowd. “Do you think your hard-earned money should be given to infiltrators? Would you accept this?” Modi said. The Congress accused PM Modi of using 'poisonous language'.

The Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka is being held in two phases. The first phase was on April 26 and polling in the second phase will be held on May 7.