Modi’s party told to take down campaign ad targeting Muslims

A campaign ad by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist ruling party was taken down from social media after it drew backlash for promoting anti-Muslim sentiment.

The ad was released on Saturday as part of the BJP’s campaign in the eastern state of Jharkhand, which voted in the second phase of the regional election today, and showed Muslims taking over a Hindu family home in an apparent reference to “infiltration” from Bangladesh, invoked by the prime minister and his home minister Amit Shah.

In the ad, a Hindu man opens the door to see a crowd of seemingly poor men, women and children, dressed in skull caps and hijabs, entering his home. The Hindu woman of the house, wearing a mangalsutra and a bindi, covers her nose while looking concerned as the man screams, “They are ruining our home.”

One of the intruders, wearing a torn brown vest, tells the homeowners, “We have come because of the government you voted for,” in an apparent reference to the state’s ruling alliance of the Congress party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. “So your home should be destroyed as well. Why only our slum,” he adds, as the ad accuses the state government of “minority appeasement”.

The ad was taken down after the Congress complained against the “misleading and divisive” video to the Election Commission of India, the constitutional authority responsible for administering elections in the country.

The commission directed the BJP to remove the ad, posted on the party’s Jharkhand social media channels. It also asked the state election chief to send a notice to the BJP and submit an action taken report.

Jharkhand election officer, K Ravi Kumar, told the Hindustan Times that a police complaint had also been filed in the matter.

Denouncing the advertisement, Congress member Jairam Ramesh called it a blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

“A complaint has just been lodged with the Election Commission on a most disgusting ad relating to Jharkhand,” he wrote on X. “It not only brazenly and blatantly violates the ECI’s Model Code of Conduct, it is also an act of serious criminality. We hope the ECI will act immediately and pursue this matter to its logical conclusion."

The ad also drew criticism beyond the Congress party.

Mehbooba Mufti, leader of a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir, called the ad “deplorably communal” and a betrayal of India’s secular principles.

In a statement on X, she said, “BJP’s advertisement campaign in Jharkhand assembly elections should make Kashmiri leadership turn in their graves who, despite Jammu and Kashmir being a Muslim-majority state, opted to join a secular democratic India.”

She labelled the ad “pure poison” and said it “contradicts the foundational ideals and secular fabric of the nation.”

The controversy comes amid a heated campaign during which Mr Modi’s party has consistently targeted the state’s coalition. Mr Modi earlier this month described the opposition alliance as an “infiltrators” alliance and “mafia’s slave”, alleging that it supported Bangladeshi infiltrators at the expense of Jharkhand’s tribal population.

“Appeasement politics has reached its pinnacle in Jharkhand, where the JMM coalition is busy supporting Bangladeshi infiltrators. If this continues, the tribal population in Jharkhand will shrink. This is a threat to tribal society and the country,” Mr Modi said during a rally in Garhwa as he alleged the state government was allowing “infiltrators” to settle in Jharkhand for political gain.

His home minister, Amit Shah, echoed the accusations and vowed legal action against alleged land grab by infiltrators. Speaking in Seraikela, he said, “Infiltrators are grabbing land by marrying our daughters. We will bring a law to prevent transfer of land to infiltrators if they marry tribal women. We will also form a committee to identify infiltrators to drive them out and reclaim land grabbed by them.”