Punjab polls
Shiromani Akali Dak demands action against Congress for misusing ‘Gurbani’ in ads
Chandigarh/UNI: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday urged the Election Commission to take strict action against the Congress for misusing 'Gurbani' (Sikh hymns) in its advertisements and asserted that this not only violated the model code of conduct but had also hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.
Party spokesman Arshdeep Kler while submitting a complaint in this regard to the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer, urged the Election Commission to issue directions for the removal of all hoardings, boards and other objectionable content including the video "Punjab Di Chardhi Kala, Congress Mange Sarbat Da Bhala" from all channels and social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.
The SAD also urged that separate directions be issued by the EC recommending action against Congress for distorting the holy scriptures.
It said the words of prayer which had been distorted were ingrained in the hearts of every Sikh and that the Congress party had played with the sentiments of the entire community by misusing them for its propaganda.
Asserting that the Congress party had not only distorted 'Gurbani' for its petty political purposes, the SAD complaint said the party had also taken visuals from Punjab government advertisements and copy pasted them in the party advertisements.
It said as per the model code of conduct no political party could use any religious symbol or religious connotations for its political propaganda and that further, the Election Commission had also clarified that no visual of any government advertisement could be used in party advertisements.
It said the Congress party had used visuals of the "True Punjabi" advertisement of the Punjab Government specifically at 1.23th minute in the advertisement "Punjab Di Chardhi Kala, Congress Mange Sarbat Da Bhala."
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