India heading for a tough election

In the world's biggest democracy nothing is spared in winning the votes of the 814.5 million eligible voters where name calling, threats, and fake endorsements are part of the game.

Thus it was not surprising that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was dragged into India's tumultuous politics on claims that he had endorsed Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narendra Modi as incorruptible. WikiLeaks later denounced the endorsement as fake.

Also Modi's detractors especially in the Indian National Congress, which leads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government wasted no time in hitting out at Modi over his alleged communalism and autocratic ways.

Thus parallels were drawn between Modi, who is spearheading the opposition party, with Adolf Hitler over his role in the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujerat where hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, were killed and tens of thousands left homeless in religious violence.

"Hitler was the biggest arrogant who thought people had no wisdom and there was no need to listen to them… Similarly, there is a leader today in India who says 'I have done this, I have done that' and behaves arrogantly," Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi told an election rally in Gujarat.

Other party leaders have backed the Congress vice-president's attacks on Modi with one spokesman describing him as "maut ka saudagar" (merchant of death).

And to counter Rahul's Hitler jibe against Modi, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley retorted that it was former the prime minister the late Indira Gandhi, Rahul's grandmother, who drew inspiration from Hitler when she imposed the emergency rule in 1975.

Professor Pervaiz Alam, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Apeejay Stya University told Bernama it is a late offensive by the Congress to regain lost ground against Modi, who is seen as the frontrunner for now.

"Congress leaders initially did not attack Modi as seriously as Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) leader, did. Kejriwal took the initiative by going to Gujarat and gave specific examples of why Modi's development model was not working. This increased support for Kejriwal's party among those opposed to the BJP," Pervaiz said.

"The Congress received the message. Now Rahul Gandhi has rejuvenated his party's campaign," he added.

Kejriwal, whose party had jolted India's politics through his anti-corruption advocacy, follows a policy of equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.

After AAP's spectacular success in Delhi's state elections in December, neither the Congress nor the BJP are taking AAP lightly.

Kejriwal recently visited Gujarat to challenge Modi in his stronghold, where his brief detention led to violence in New Delhi and Lucknow between AAP and BJP supporters.

The AAP leader targets both politicians and tycoons in what they allege as an unholy nexus between politics and business.

Kejriwal says the real power in the UPA government is Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, and the BJP has also received funding from him.

Reliance has rejected the allegations calling them politically motivated. Funding by business groups to political parties is an accepted practice in India and most believe that election winners usually return the favor by helping their benefactors in business deals.

"The use of black money is there. Corporate houses give money with the understanding that they will be able to influence policies and projects, get land and evade taxes," professor Shri Prakash of Jamia Millia Islamia university told Bernama.

While announcing the election dates, Chief Election Commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath Sampath said "the commission recognizes that money politics is the biggest challenge."

India’s Lok Sabha election will be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12. Votes will be counted on May 16.

Political observers expect this election to be the most expensive in India's history.

"This is going to be the most expensive election because of the Modi factor.

The corporate sector supports him, they think Modi is good for business," Pervaiz said.

With the election dates set, Congress has stepped its offensive against BJP and its affiliates. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteer Organisation) has sought court action and has registered a complaint with the Election Commission against Rahul for saying RSS was behind the 1948 assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian independence.

The RSS, a right-wing group, is seen as the BJP's ideological parent.

Senior Congress leader and India's minister of external affairs, Salman Khurshid, backed Rahul's comments: "The RSS workers killed Mahatma Gandhi and after his assassination they distributed sweets in their homes."

Congress leaders say Modi will be a divisive figure as prime minister and thus they are keen to draw voters' attention to the riot in Gujarat.

BJP leaders, meanwhile, continue to hammer the Congress over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which followed Indira Gandhi's assassination.

A BJP leader in Rajasthan, a Hindi-speaking northern state, told an election crowd that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul "should be stripped off their clothes" and sent to Italy, according to Indian media reports.

Meanwhile, Congress ally and India's agriculture minister Sharad Pawar launched a scathing attack on Modi calling him "insane" for seeking an India free from the Congress party.

"Whether Modi knows the sacrifice and contribution of Congress in freedom struggle?" Pawar asked adding that "Modi must be mad as he talks rubbish and needs to be treated in a mental hospital".

"Campaign standards have fallen and the language used in elections has deteriorated. We see this trend in every election. Obviously the intensity is high this time because the election outcome is unpredictable," Pervaiz said.

Modi's call at election rallies is that people should give him just five years, having given the Congress 60 years of govern India.

Professor Shri Prakash says BJP's efforts are directed at projecting Modi as a charismatic leader.

"Modi in an exaggerated way wants an India without the Congress. He says he wants to rule for 60 months, but once he is in power he will devise ways and means to stay for 60 years," he quipped.