The Election Commission has asked to view tapes of Amit Shah’s call for revenge against those who were ‘protecting’ the killers of Jats, during an interaction in Uttar Pradesh. The EC action follows a complaint by the Congress, over what they called his “provocative hate speech”, demanding that he be arrested and banned from campaigning for “creating animosity between communities” in western UP. “This election is about voting out the government that protects and gives compensation to those who killed Jats,” Shah had reportedly said. “It is about badla (revenge) and protecting izzat (honour)". [caption id=“attachment_1467463” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Associated Press[/caption] Neha Dixit in Scroll.in , also reporting on the same meeting, notes Shah said, “This is the time to avenge,” pointing to Suresh Rana and Hukum Singh, two BJP MLAs accused of inciting anti-Muslim violence during the Muzaffarnagar riots. “A man can sleep hungry but not humiliated. This is the time to take revenge by voting for Modi.” In its complaint, the Congress said that Shah has made a “provocative hate speech” in a Muzaffarnagar village “to cause animosity between two communities, where communal violence had taken place recently and a large number of innocent persons were brutally killed.” The party said that “the memory of the ghastly and deplorable incident is still vivid in the minds of the people.” Citing the contents of his reported speech, the Congress said, “the statements as reported are with a calculated design to create communal hatred and tension between the two communities for seeking votes in the coming elections.” “This is also an appeal in the name of the caste and community and provokes communal feelings for the purpose of securing votes,” it said. The party said Amit Shah has committed “an offence u/s 125 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 and it calls for immediate registration of FIR and his arrest along with other BJP workers for their common intention to commit this offence.” “In addition, since it is also a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, immediate action may also be taken against BJP, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi for violation of the code,” Congress said. The BJP however, defended Amit Shah, saying he had merely captured the “mood of the nation” and was asking the people to vote for the party and Narendra Modi. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman used the opportunity to drag Congress president Sonia Gandhi into the controversy over her appeal to Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, contending that the attempt to polarise the elections had been initiated by the “so-called secular” party. “Jo log secular tourism karne gaye the unhone apmaan kiya hai, chahe Hindu ho ya Musalman,” Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told ANI.