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The hype hides the truth. Elections are won or lost on the basis of deep sentiments and not swayed by poll-eve pyrotechnics.
As 2.61 crore voters, and 2.88 lakh among them freshers, gear up for the battle of the ballot in Kerala on Tuesday, their choice is whether to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a second term at the Centre or hark back to the secular camp, be it the Congress or the Left.
The month-long electioneering shows the LDF, not a hot favourite in initial surveys, covering a lot of distance by fielding strong candidates. The UDF countered this with a strong line-up and its leaders tom-tommed Congress president Rahul Gandhi as a game changer, who would ensure all the 20 seats in their kitty.
No doubt Rahul would coast to a thumping victory in Wayanad. His presence inspires a higher minority accretion to the UDF in many seats as he is seen as the best bet at the national level to check the Modi juggernaut. The Left has not forgiven him for the Waynadan foray but Rahul sought to neutralize it by not picking up a direct fight and “absorbing” their pique.
On the Left camp, Chief Minister Pinara-yi Vijayan emerged as the chief campaigner in the absence of his predecessor, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan.
The LDF’s yesteryear electoral mojo doesn’t seem to work, perhaps. But the duo of Mr Vijayan and party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on party posters across the State struggled to match the electoral pull of Mr Achuthanandan, whose appeal transcended party cadre and supporters.
Mr Modi did what he could do best; push the polarizing agenda. He did not utter the S-word while in Kerala but raised it once outside the State. Some relief for CEO Teeka Ram Meena.
To hazard a guess on a tally-wise outcome is risky because it is to be seen how the voter reacts to the UDF campaign against CPM brand of political violence in Malabar. If the voter reacts as vehemently against the killings, the UDF tally is likely to exceed its 12 sitting seats. In the most high-profile Thiruvananthapuram, it is touch and go despite Dr Shashi Tharoor getting the NSS backing this time.
Sabarimala remained a major subject as deep-rooted religious sentiments seemed to overwhelm political moorings, both among male and female voters. This is bad news for the LDF because voter apathy would benefit rivals; who would benefit the most from this is mere conjecture.
The new voters, many of whom would follow the pattern of their parents, are a case in point. The Muslim League continuing to win in Malappuram and Ponnani, though with an exception, suggests that the generational shift in electoral preferences is a long-drawn process.
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BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said his party will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir and introduce National Register for Citizens across the country after returning to power.
Hitting out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah said: “Mamata Banerjee is under pressure after the end of second phase polls. There is politics of appeasement in Bengal.”
“I request to the people of Bengal to vote without fear. BJP workers are guarding them as protectors of democracy in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
“Mamata Banerjee did not allow my rallies in Bengal. Now the people here are not coming out to attend her rallies,” said Shah.
On the campaign trail in West Bengal’s Uluberia Lok Sabha seat in Howrah and Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia, Shah demanded the TMC chief to clarify whether she too favoured a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir like her ally National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.
‘Apko (Mamata) Pakistan ke saath ilu ilu (I love you) karna hain toh kijiye. Lekin agar Pakistan goli marega toh hum gola marenge’ (If you are interested in showing love with Pakistan, you can do that but we would respond to their bullets with canon balls), Shah said, referring to the popular Hindi song from a film in the early 1990s.
“We will remove Article 370 from Kashmir after forming the next BJP government at the Centre. The Congress and Trinamool Congress want Article 370 to stay. We will also introduce NRC across the country,” Shah told an election rally here.
“For us, national security is supreme unlike Mamata didi for whom infiltrators are vote bank. We will identify them and throw them out,” Shah said.
Lashing out at the chief minister for allegedly running a “mafia raj” in Bengal, the BJP president also claimed that the state has topped the chart in cow smuggling and become a safe haven for infiltrators.
Urging the people to ensure that the BJP wins more than 23 out of 42 seats in the state, Shah said it would ensure that the syndicate raj ends within 90 days in Bengal.
The BJP had two seats in Bengal in 2014 against TMC 34, but after a good performance in the rural polls and some bypolls last year, the saffron party is buoyed to break the monopoly of Banerjee’s party in the eastern state.
In West Bengal, ‘syndicate’ means the business run by persons allegedly enjoying political patronage, who force promoters and contractors to buy construction materials, often of inferior quality at high prices.
“Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is running a mafia raj in the state. The state has achieved the distinction of topping the chart in cow smuggling and turning the state into a safe haven for infiltrators,” Shah claimed.
Addressing a rally in Uluberia, he accused Banerjee of making West Bengal a bankrupt state where only her relatives and TMC ministers have flourished. Under the TMC rule “all three – mother, motherland and people are suffering”, he said, referring to the ‘Ma, Maati and Manush’ slogan of West Bengal’s ruling party.
“Now the ‘Ma, Maati and Manush’ slogan has changed to Infiltration, Gundaraj and Ghuskhori (bribe),” he said. Shah alleged that Banerjee, who is vehemently opposed to the contentious NRC that is currently restricted to Assam, was misleading people. He said the BJP would introduce it in every state after winning the polls.
“It is our commitment to bring in NRC across the country to chuck away each and every infiltrator. First, we would bring Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, so that all the refugees get citizenship, and then we will bring NRC to throw out infiltrators,” he said.
Mamata has repeatedly claimed that the NRC, which seeks to weed out illegal migrants from Assam, will turn even bona fide Indian citizens into refugees.
The NRC got mired in a massive controversy after the names of around 40 lakh people, living in Assam for decades, were omitted from the complete draft that was released last year.
He also took on the West Bengal CM for “questioning the veracity” of the Indian Air Force’s strike in Pakistan’s Balakot to avenge the killing of 40 CRPF troopers in Kashmir, saying the IAF’s assault was mourned in only two places – Pakistan and Mamata Banerjee’s office.
“We came to know that Mamata Banerjee was mourning the air strikes. It is quite obvious that the air strikes will be mourned in Pakistan. But why is Mamata Banerjee mourning? Are the terrorists who died relatives of Mamata? This is a shame,” Shah said.
Earlier in the day, Shah at a press conference said the refugees who migrated from Bangladesh — be it Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, or Christians — will get citizenship as promised in the BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra.’
West Bengal, where 42 Lok Sabha seats are at stake, will go to polls during all seven phases of polling. The state voted for five Lok Sabha seats during first and second phases of polling on April 11 and 18.
The last phase of polling is scheduled for May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
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Targeting the UPA regime on national security issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government took bold steps to counter terrorism, compared to the timid approach adopted by the Congress-led regime.
Modi’s remarks at a poll rally here in Nashik district of Maharashtra came a day after a terror attack in Sri Lanka killed 290 people in a series of eight blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in the island country.
The Prime Minister said that due to the bold approach adopted by his government, terrorism has been curbed in India and is confined only to some parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Under attack from the Congress for not letting the Rafale contract go to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Modi accused the opposition party of destroying the state-run enterprise.
The HAL has a unit in Nashik. The prime minister said his government has increased defence production under the ‘Make in India’ programme.
Campaigning for BJP-Shiv Sena alliance candidates from Nashik, Dindori and Dhule Lok Sabha constituencies, Modi said the Lanka blasts took place on Easter when people were sharing the message of peace.
“What was the condition in India before 2014? Bomb explosions would take place in corners of the country every now and then in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kashi (Varanasi), Ayodhya, Jammu,” Modi said.
“What did the then Congress-NCP government do? Held condolence meeting, expressed grief. They went about crying in the world, saying Pakistan did this and that in our country,” he said.
“But what did your chowkidar do? Your chowkidar changed this timid approach of the Congress-NCP government,” Modi said.
In an apparent reference to the 2016 surgical strike and Balakot air strike carried out in February this year, Modi said the security forces barged into the “factory of terror and cleaned everything without any discrimination”.
Modi said every terrorist is aware that “Modi would trace him even if he is hiding in the netherworld.”
Without naming any leader from the opposition, Modi said “some” experience electric current the moment I talk about dynasty and national security. He said the opposition was restless given the response the BJP got in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls across the country.
Addressing the rally in a region known for onion production, Modi said his government is trying to increase onion storage capacity and reduce tax on their transportation.
He claimed that the Congress tweaked crop prices to benefit middlemen. “I have fought a battle against these middlemen,” he added. “Our government working to end the rule of middlemen,” Modi said.
Speaking at a poll rally at Nandurbar later, Modi said accused the opposition parties of spreading rumours that reservations will modified if he returns to power. Modi said he will ensure that the quota quantum is not disturbed.
“Till Modi is here, nobody can touch reservations, given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said.
Modi also assured people in the tribal dominated constituencies in north Maharashtra that his government will ensure they would not face eviction from their land. “As long as Modi is there, reservation for adivasis will not be removed. No one can lay hand on your agricultural land you are cultivating now,” he said.
The adivasis are currently struggling to keep their land with themselves as some provisions of the Forest Rights Act are being challenged. “In Maharashtra alone, 1.25 crore farmers’ families are benefiting from Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Yojana. If voted to power again, we will remove the upper land holding limit of five acre,” Modi said.
“My government is also going to introduce a pension scheme for farmers in coming years,” he said.
North Maharashtra produces sugarcane which can be used for ethanol production, Modi said. It will create jobs for locals but the Congress-NCP leaders never allowed it to happen, he said.
“These leaders used to get kickbacks for importing fuel. If fuel imports are reduced due to ethanol blending, they fear of losing their income,” Modi said.
Recalling that it was in Nandurbar that the Aadhar scheme was launched in 2010, Modi said his government ensured its wider impact. “But and now the Congress has approached the Supreme Court against Aadhar card,” he said.
Funds meant for pregnant women and children were “looted” by Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh and were seized from residences of some of their leaders, he said. “They (Congress) are unrelenting in abusing me as I targeted their corruption,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also attacked Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy for his alleged remark that those who don’t get a square meal join the army and become jawans.
Modi said that according to Kumaraswamy, people who guard our borders are not children of the rich and join the armed forces because they don’t have food to eat.
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Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday filed an affidavit in Supreme Court and expressed regret over his remarks related to the Rafale judgement.
Gandhi said that he made the statement in heat of campaigning and has been misused by political opponents.
The apex court on April 15 had directed Gandhi to give his explanation by April 22.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had made it clear that Gandhi’s remarks, made in the media, on the Rafale verdict were incorrectly attributed to the apex court.
The top court had sought Gandhi’s explanation on a petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who has sought criminal contempt against the Congress president. The apex court is scheduled to hear the matter on Tuesday.
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A local outfit identified as the National Tawheed Jamath is suspected of plotting the deadly Easter blasts that killed 290 people and wounded 500 others in the worst terror attack in the country’s history, a top Sri Lankan minister said on Monday.
Health Minister and the government spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne, also said that all suicide bombers involved in the blasts are believed to be Sri Lankan nationals.
According to Reuters, the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka were carried out with the help of an international network, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said on Monday.
“We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country,” Senaratne said. “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.”
Speaking at a press conference here, the minister said that the Chief of National Intelligence had warned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding the probable attacks before April 11.
“On April 4, international intelligence agencies had warned of these attacks. The IGP was informed on April 9,” Senaratne said. He said that the local outfit identified as the National Tawheed Jamath – a radical Muslim group – is suspected of plotting the deadly explosions.
“There may be international links to them,” he added. Senaratne sought resignation of police chief Pujith Jayasundera in view of the major security lapse. Rauff Hakeem, a government minister and the leader of the main Muslim party – Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, said that it was lamentable that no preventive action had been taken despite the inputs.
“They have known this…, the names have been given, identified, but (they) took no action,” he added. Two Sri Lankan Muslim groups – the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama and the National Shoora Council – have condemned the blasts and offered condolences to the Christian community. They have urged that all culprits be brought to book.
“The government has decided to gazette the clauses related to prevention of terrorism to emergency regulation and gazette it by midnight,” the president’s media unit said in a statement.
It said the measure would be confined to dealing with terrorism and would not impinge on freedom of expression.
“The police curfew which was lifted at 6 this morning is to be re-imposed at 8 pm Monday until 4 am Tuesday,” the Government Information Department said.
Seven suicide bombers were involved in eight blasts that targeted St Anthony’s Church in Colombo, St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo and Zeon Church in Batticaloa when the Easter Sunday mass were in progress.
The explosions also struck three five-star hotels in Colombo – the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury. No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks, but police have so far arrested 24 people.
