The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Centre and the Assam government on a plea to remove objectionable videos allegedly posted on X by the BJP cautioning people that the state would be taken over by Muslims if the party was not voted back to power.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued notices to the respondents on a joint application filed by journalist Qurban Ali and senior advocate Anjana Prakash.
The petitioners, represented by senior advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, sought the registration of an FIR against those responsible for circulating the video.
Referring to the top court’s 2022 guidelines to authorities to promptly register criminal cases against those giving hate speeches, the petitioners sought contempt action against the police if they failed to register an FIR.
The petition filed through advocate Lzafeer Ahmad said a video was posted by the Assam BJP on September 15 on its official X handle, BJP Assam Pradesh, propagating “a grossly false narrative that depicts the takeover of Assam by Muslims if the BJP doesn’t remain in power in the state”.
“The video depicts the consequences of a change in the present ruling dispensation and inter alia shows visibly Muslim people (wearing skull caps and burqas) taking over tea estates, Guhawati airport, Guhawati Accolade, Assam Ranghar, Guhawati Stadium, Rang Ghar, Guhawati town. The video further shows illegal migrants who are visibly Muslims coming into Assam; Muslims acquiring government land; and finally, the state having 90 per cent Muslim population,” it added.
According to the petitioners, the BJP, as the ruling party in the state, was bound to uphold the “secular values that formed part of the basic structure of the Constitution”.
However, the video circulated by it “openly targets, vilifies and demonises Muslims”, the petition alleged.
The broad message of the video is that the worst fate that could befall a state was its takeover by Muslims, and support was being sought on the strength of the assurance that if the BJP was voted to power, the state would be saved, the petition submitted.
It said the state government was the guardian of all communities and was specifically prohibited by the Constitution from engaging in discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, gender and language.
“Thus, the burden of being fair, just and secular is far greater on an elected government,” it said.
The petition claimed that the video had been reposted 6,100 times, liked 19,000 times and viewed 4.6 million times as on September 18.
“Thus, the same is required to be taken down immediately to contain any further spread of communal disharmony, unrest and enmity,” it said.
The petitioners sought directions to X India Pvt Ltd and BJP Assam Pradesh to take down the video “to contain any further spread of communal disharmony, unrest and enmity”.
The bench posted the matter for hearing on October 28.