Lok Sabha polls: Congress objects to Arvind Kejriwal's 'Hindu-Muslim' remark, asks EC to bar Delhi CM from campaigning

The Congress slammed Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday for the AAP chief’s remarks that the grand old party was not getting a single Hindu vote while Muslims were confused, saying he was doing what the BJP did and mixing politics with religion. A Congress delegation led by party leader Sandip Dikshit, son of Delhi Congress president and North East Delhi candidate Sheila Dikshit lodged a complaint with the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) and demanded that Kejriwal be barred from campaigning for the polls. [caption id=“attachment_5623881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Reuters[/caption] Dikshit told reporters after meeting the CEO that the Congress had demanded that the AAP chief be barred from poll campaigning as he was “trying to stoke a communal divide” through his “irresponsible and inciting” utterances. Speaking at the launch of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) manifesto for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, the Delhi chief minister said the “Congress was not getting a single Hindu vote while Muslims were a little confused”. Hitting back at the AAP chief, Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak said, “I feel Kejriwalji himself is confused.” She said the top leadership of the Congress had extended a hand of friendship towards Kejriwal for an alliance, but he brushed it aside. “Then he says the Congress is responsible if (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji wins. In Delhi, now he is mixing politics and religion,” Nayak said, while asking whether Kejriwal had joined electoral politics for this alternative politics. “I remember the big dreams he had shown — morality in politics, transparency in politics, inclusive politics — and today, he is doing what the BJP does, that if you are a Hindu vote for them, if you are a Muslim vote for them. I feel this is not good for the strength of democracy,” the Congress spokesperson said. Kejriwal also alleged that the Congress was trying to weaken the opposition in different states —“whether it is Kerala, Haryana, Goa, West Bengal or UP, but I hope people from all religions, who want to save the country, would unite and vote for the AAP”. With inputs from PTI