By Archis Chowdhury
During an interview with News18's Rubika Liyaquat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that he did not mention 'Muslims', while speaking of 'infiltrators' and 'those with more children' in one of his speeches during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. He further adds, "The day I do 'Hindu-Muslim' I will not be eligible to stay in public life."
BOOM accessed the speech Modi gave in Rajasthan's Banswara on April 21, 2024, and found that he did clearly refer to Muslims, while misquoting a comment by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He then immediately goes on to state that Congress will distribute people's possession to 'infiltrators' and 'those with more children'.
The excerpt from his speech, where he makes the comments in question, reads, "And back when they were running the government, they had said Muslims have the first claim to the country's resources. This means, after collecting people's possessions who are they going to distribute them to? They will distribute them to those who have more kids. They will distribute them to the infiltrators."
Furthermore, Modi had made two more speeches in Rajasthan's Ajmer and Barmer, where he stated that the Congress' manifesto resemble that of the Muslim League's.
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After filing his nomination in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi constituency, Modi gave an interview to Rubika Liyaquat for News18, during which she asks, "When you referred to Muslims on stage, what was the need to say 'infiltrators' and 'those who reproduce more children'?"
Modi responds by saying, "I'm surprised. Who told you that while talking of 'more children' it is a reference to Muslims?" He then goes on to state, " I neither mentioned Muslim, nor Hindu."
Click here to view an archive of the tweet by News18 containing the excerpt from the interview in question.
Fact Check
To fact-check the claim, BOOM accessed the speech given by Modi at Banswara in Rajasthan, when he made the statements around property distribution in the Congress manifesto, uploaded on his YouTube channel on April 21, 2024.
At the 36:50 mark in the video, Modi is heard saying the following:
"And back when they were running the government, they had said Muslims have the first claim to the country's resources. This means, after collecting people's possessions who are they going to distribute them to? They will distribute them to those who have more kids. They will distribute them to the infiltrators."
At the 37:20 mark, he goes on to state the following:
"This is what the Congress manifesto says, that they will do a survey of mothers and daughters' gold, get information on them, and then distribute these possessions. And they will distribute to them - for whom the Manmohan Singh government had said, that Muslims have the first claim to resources. (sic)"
In the two above statements, Modi is referring to a speech by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where the latter speaks of equitable resource distribution among with minorities, which include Muslims, along with SC/STs, OBCs, women and children.
Also Read:PM Modi Misquotes Manmohan Singh’s 'First Claim On Resources' Remark
Modi clearly refers to Muslims in his speech, while misquoting Singh's statement, and then immediately goes on the say that the Congress will thus distribute people's possessions to 'infiltrators' and 'those with more children'. This clarifies that he was indeed referring to Muslims, while mentioning 'infiltrators' and 'those with more children'.
This was not the only instance of Hindu-Muslim polarisation in Modi's speeches. During his speeches at Barmer and Ajmer ahead of the elections, Modi also referred to the Congress' manifesto as resembling that of the Muslim League's.
Modi's comments regarding Muslims are in tune with the BJP's rhetoric that portray Muslims as invaders. One such post made by the BJP's official Instagram account was deleted after it was reported as hate speech. Another post by BJP Karnataka's official X handle targeting Muslims and the Congress was also pulled up by Karnataka Police, after it was notified by the Election Commission (EC) to take action against the post for violating the Model Code of Conduct.
