NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party on Wednesday deleted a cartoon video posted on social media platform X that was criticised for targeting Muslims during an ongoing national election.

India’s election code bans campaigning based on “communal” incitement but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has frequently invoked the country’s main religious divide on the campaign trail.

The video, posted by an official BJP account, featured caricatures of opposition politicians scheming to abolish special affirmative action programmes for marginalised Hindu groups and instead distribute them to Muslims.

The election commission wrote to the platform’s Indian office on Tuesday saying the “objectionable” post violated Indian law. On Wednesday the original post had disappeared from the platform, with a notice saying it had been deleted.

A police complaint filed by the opposition Congress party accused the video of promoting “enmity between different religions”. Modi, who is widely expected to win a third term in office when the six-week general election concludes next month, has made similar claims to the video in campaign appearances since last month.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024