It is time to junk the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). It is time to recognise that it is not just harmless fiction; this is a weapon of distraction and disruption. And it is time to name and shame the Election Commission of India (ECI) for reducing this democratic innovation to a farce.
Consider this election speech on October 24 in Jamshedpur by Himanta Biswa Sarma: “Desh ke kone kone mein abhi bhi jo Babur base hain, ye logon ko laat maar maar kar nikaalne ka samay aa chuka hai (It’s high time that the Baburs that continue to reside in all the nooks and corners of this country are kicked out)”. And now read the very first sentence of the MCC: “No party or candidate shall include [sic] in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic” (Para I.1). Or, consider the slanderous remarks made in Maharashtra by a BJP leader against family members of Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat or by the Congress candidate in Jharkhand against the BJP leader Sita Soren. Now read the second commandment (Para I.2) of the MCC: “Parties and Candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties.” In the run-up to this assembly election, the Maharashtra government has announced “schemes” that amount to open bribing of voters to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore. That is MCC for you.
The EC is yet to take any step in these cases. It won’t matter much, even if it did issue a regulation notice. You can keep scrolling down the MCC and list all the proscribed activities. And then step out during election times to note all of these happen routinely, without any check: Appeal to caste or communal........