india

Updated: Apr 05, 2019 09:12 IST

A day after the Election Commission (EC) issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for calling the Indian Army “Modi ki sena (Modi’s army)”, a video of Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi purportedly making a similar remark at a Rampur rally surfaced on Thursday.

In the video, Naqvi can be purportedly heard saying, “Our missiles, our defence personnel annihilated the terrorists after storming their bastions. This is not an ordinary feat.”

“Ab dikkat yeh hui ki Congress party, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party sab chilaane lage ki bhai yeh jo Modi ji ne ghus ghus kar, Modiji ki sena ne ghus ghus kar ke aatankwaadiyo ko tabaah kiyaa uskaa saboot to dikhaa do’ (But the problem is that the Congress, the SP and the BSP started demanding proof of the attack carried out by ‘Modiji ki sena’),” he added.”

The union minister was in Rampur on Wednesday to support actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada who filed her nomination as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency.

When contacted by news agency PTI on Thursday evening, Naqvi maintained that he had not said it in as many words. “I might have said ‘meri sena, aapki sena, har aadmi ki sena’ (my Army, your army, everyone’s Army).”

The Congress described Naqvi’s comment as an insult to the army. “The BJP should stop mentioning the Indian Army. They are using the army as their private army for the publicity of their prachaar mantri (prime minister),” Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi said.

The Congress will file a complaint with the EC, he added.

The poll watchdog issued a show-cause notice to Adityanath for his ‘Modi ji ki sena’ remark made during a poll rally at Ghaziabad earlier this week. The EC has asked him to reply by April 5.

Adityanath, while addressing election meetings in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Sunday, had said:“Congress ke log aatankwadiyon ko biryani khilate the aur Modiji ki sena aatankwadiyon ko goli aur gola deti hai. (Congress leaders would feed biryani to terrorists, while Modi’s army gives them bullets and bombs). This is the difference. The Congress people use ‘ji’ to refer to (JeM chief) Masood Azhar to encourage terrorism.”

(With PTI inputs)