GHAZIABAD: The Election Commission has sought a report from the Ghaziabad district magistrate on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling the Army "Modi ji ki sena" at a rally on Sunday, as it may violate the election code.
Yogi's remark provoked condemnation from the Congress, which called it an insult to the armed forces. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was addressing a rally in Ghaziabad near Delhi on Sunday when he used the words repeatedly to draw a contrast with "Congress ke log (Congress's people)".
"Congress people used to serve terrorists biryani and Modi-ji's Sena (Prime Minister Narendra Modi's army) gives them only golis and golas (bullets and bombs). That's the difference. Congress people use "ji" for terrorists like Masood Azhar but under the leadership of PM Modi, the BJP government is breaking the backs of terrorists by striking their camps," said Yogi Adityanath, addressing a rally in Ghaziabad.
"What was namumkin (impossible) for the Congress is mumkin (possible) for PM Modi. Because when Modi is there, the impossible becomes possible."
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal, called it "shocking" that her Uttar Pradesh counterpart had used the words for the army.
"It is shocking to hear the UP CM saying that the Indian Army is the 'Modi Sena'. Such blatant personalization and usurping of our beloved Indian army is an insult and a humiliation," said the Trinamool supremo.
The opposition has often accused the government of trying to exploit the army for electoral gains.
The Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were killed, and India's subsequent air strike targeting a terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, have been "politicized" and portrayed as the BJP's achievement, many opposition parties have alleged. Following their complaint, the Election Commission underscored that the army cannot be used in political campaigning.
PM Modi has accused the opposition, especially the Congress, of talking Pakistan's language.