With polls in Gujarat just a week away, the campaign is getting murkier. Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s latest war cry at an election rally at Mangrol in South Gujarat yesterday has upped the stakes.
Its said that Modi asked the crowd, ”What should be done to a man who stored illegal arms and ammunition? You tell me what should have been done to Sohrabuddin?”
In return the crowd responded, ”Kill him, kill him”.
”Well, that is it. Do I have to take Sonia Gandhi’s permission to do this? Hang me if I have done anything wrong,” responded Modi.
With ‘Soniaben’ being Mr Modi’s favourite target of attack, he has given the state’s Congress leaders a royal miss. The minority community too has been spared from direct assault, unlike last time, when he made such remarks like ”panch ka pachees” and ”Miyan Musharraf” among others.
Anti-minority sentiment is reflected in his speeches in patches, especially with reference to the Sohrabuddin killing.
Meanwhile the Congress President, has taken a lead at attacking Mr Modi personally, calling him a ‘maut ka saudagar’ (merchant of death’), for protecting those accused of rioting and murder during the post-Godhra riots. She directly took on him on the Sohrabudddin encounter issue during her campaign trail, while calling him ‘jhootha and beimaan” (liar and dishonest) in another instance.
She in her speech at Jasdan charged the BJP with using names of great Congress leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, but following the path of Godse.
To this, Mr Modi retorted, ”She being a foreigner has insulted leaders of Gujarat by calling them Godse.” He also dared ‘Soniaben’ to hang him to death if he had done any wrong.
”Encounter, encounter, encounter. If she has the guts, she can hang me to death,” he thundered at a rally in South Gujarat.
He also justified the killing at another rally in Karchelia village of Surat.”To someone like Sohrabuddin who was wanted by police in four states and kept arms and ammunition, you tell me what should have been done to him,” he asked the crowd, who responded with,”Kill him, kill him”. He showed no qualms about admitting to the encounter in public.
He also accused her of double standards for ‘delaying the execution’ of Afzal Guru convicted in the Parliament attack case.
”Even after the Supreme Court had sentenced him to death, why has he still not been executed?” he asked at a rally in Surat.
Initially, the campaign of the BJP began with development as its main plank, but later the communal angle was resurrected, especially with references to Sohrabuddin.
Sohrabuddin was killed in what was then termed an encounter with the police in Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005. But the case came to the national limelight after a CBI investigation submitted a report to the Supreme Court earlier this year that that the encounter was staged, that it was a fake encounter.
At least three top Gujarat Police officers including DIG DG Vanzara of the Special Investigation Team were implicated in the killing.
It is suspected that Sohrabuddin’s wife Kausar Bi could also have been killed by the police in custody at around the same time. Vanzara is still in jail The matter is still in the Supreme Court.
Apart from such wars of words at public meetings, the electioneering has been sans festive colours, especially in the cities. Most rallies, barring few exceptions, have also failed to draw crowds. National leaders from both parties have flocked to Gujarat to carry out electioneering.
Poking fun at the Congress’ poll slogan ‘Chak de Gujarat’, Modi reminded Gujarati voters that it is not a take-off from any Italian language but from Punjabi.
Harping on the industrial progress that the state has achieved during his reign, Mr Modi in his inimitable style asked people to make a choice between ‘five years of development’ ‘ or 40 years of ‘jhoothi umeed’ (false hopes).
Promising a corruption-free governance in a huge pullout, he claimed no one has made or been allowed to make money illegally. ”Na Khaye, na khawa de” (I don’t take, nor do I let others do).
The Congress has been quick to hit back with ”khata to nathi khawato nathi, khawa deto nathi, to Bhajpa raj ma awjo ruppayya khata kaun?”(If he doesnt take money nor let others do so, then who takes the crores that is being made from various scams). Pointing to the various ‘corruption scandals’ from Bangaru Laxman to the Rs 700 crore mining rights case, it alleges that no work in any Government office is done without paying a bribe.
Pooh-poohing the Government’s claim of development, the party alleged that it has rather taken the state towards destruction. ”He is the Chief Minister for five crorepatis, rather than five crore Gujaratis,” it said.
If BJP boasted of such star campaigners as L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitly, Smriti Irani and Venkaiah Naidu, for the Congress, Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal, Sushilkumar Shinde, Renuka Chaudhury among others came down to seek the votes.