the Election Commission of India (ECI) to act against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's ‘panauti’ remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Wednesday raked up former PM Indira Gandhi's ‘insult’ of the then Indian hockey team that lost to Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final, while praising PM Modi's attempt to encourage Indian cricket players after their World Cup final loss.
A BJP delegation sought ECI's action against the former Congress president as well as the incumbent Mallikarjun Kharge who alleged that Modi had been falsely claiming that his case was included in Gajarat's OBC list before he became the state's chief minister.
"The remarks of Kharge and Gandhi, who are indulging in spreading a web of lies and are habitual offenders, call for initiating criminal proceedings against these offenders and strict action as they have no respect for moral values in their conduct and even for the electoral laws as well as the Model Code of Conduct guidelines," the party delegate said in its memo to the poll watchdog
Recalling the 1982 Asian Games hockey final, the BJP said then PM Indira Gandhi went to watch the match which, the BJP alleged, she left midway after India began trailing ahead of its defeat. It was an insult to the team and Indira Gandhi's conduct broke the players' morale, the BJP said, adding, "It is shameful that a senseless and immature person like Rahul Gandhi calls him a panauti."
Meanwhile, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma gave a different reason for team India's cricket World Cup loss in the final match. He said the Indian cricket team lost the finals because it was played on Indira Gandhi's birthday. “I have a request from BCCI. Please, India should not play on the day which is the birthday of Gandhi family members. I have learned this from the World Cup final,” he said