NEW DELHI: Terrorism, development, dynastic rule and a controversial Hindu temple were the main topics spotlighted yesterday as India’s main political parties switched into election mode. India’s governing United Progressive Alliance’s term ends in May, and elections are expected to be announced soon for April or May.
The Congress party, which leads the ruling alliance, organized a mass rally for party workers in Delhi, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) concluded a major convention in the western city of Nagpur.
The Congress rally was addressed by all major party leaders including party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul, himself a lawmaker. The speakers largely dwelled on the issues of terrorism and development, as they asked party workers to highlight the claimed success of the UPA in improving the lot of farmers and weaker sections of society and empowering women.
Their main attacks focused on the BJP, and neighboring Pakistan — which India claims is going soft on terrorism. It alleges Pakistani extremists were responsible for the attacks on Mumbai in November that left more than 179 people dead.
“Terrorism is a big challenge and I want to tell people across the border that they should not mistake our calmness as weakness,” Sonia Gandhi told the huge gathering of party workers.
She also criticized the BJP for raising the issue of building a temple to the Hindu god Ram in the northern town of Ayodhya once again.
Hindu hard-liners claim that a temple at the site once marked the birthplace of Lord Ram and the temple had been torn down by Muslim rulers who built a mosque on the spot.
On Saturday, leaders of the BJP once again repeated a promised to rebuild the Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Hindu fundamentalist party emerged as a powerful extremist party in the 1980s and 1990s largely thanks to its campaign to build the temple.
“We will build the temple, with the help of legislation if needed,” BJP president Rajnath Singh was quoted as saying at the Nagpur convention by PTI news agency.
Sonia took a potshot at the BJP yesterday saying: “Those who want to divide society, create polarization on the basis of religion and those who use the name of Ram are against religion and cannot fight terrorism.”
BJP’s senior leader L.K. Advani said yesterday the continuation of the UPA government posed a “threat to the vital interests of the country” and demanded a high-level judicial inquiry in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack.
“The government’s soft and compromising approach to cross-border terrorism, further weakened by the virus of vote bank considerations, has endangered India’s internal security like never before,” Advani said, addressing the party’s national council meeting in Nagpur.
In Kolkata, West Bengal’s ruling Left Front launched its poll campaign with a huge gathering that saw its leaders attack principal opposition Trinamool Congress for stalling development activities and allegedly being hand in glove with the Maoists.
Setting the tone of the front’s campaign for the polls, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and front chairman Biman Bose decried the demand for including three districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in Jharkhand and charged the Trinamool with joining hands with the separatist forces as part of a “conspiracy” to divide the state.
— With input from agencies
