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India EC flays

BJP's member

radio speech

NEW DELHI: India's Election Commission has declared a campaign speech by a right-wing Hindu politician unfit for state radio, saying it illegally uses religion to seek votes, officials said Wednesday.

Kalyan Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party) was asked Tuesday by the commission to make "necessary alterations" in his speech, which was recorded by All India Radio (AIR).

Singh reportedly promised to build a grand Hindu temple at the site of a 16th-century mosque in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh that was destroyed by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

A commission official said Singh's speech "violated the law banning the use of religion to seek votes" and would be broadcast by AIR only after the necessary changes were made.

"The principle will apply to all parties and candidates," the official added.

Singh was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the mosque, in the town of Ayodhya, was razed by thousands of BJP supporters. His state government was subsequently sacked by New Delhi.

The destruction of the mosque triggered bloody Hindu-Moslem riots across India.