With every passing day political discourse in General Elections 2014 is fast reaching nadir with alarming speed. The assertion may seem a bit sweeping in the beginning but it’s hard to think otherwise when stories like petty politics over martyr’s memory and that of gang raping a woman to teach her lesson for joining a certain political party emerges. The ugly face of world’s largest democracy has been completely exposed and it will need a concentrated effort from the citizens and political parties alike to change the electoral sanksriti (culture) of India in any foreseeable future.
Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh tried to cash in the presence of large number of current and ex -serviceman in the area. He raked up the memory of the son of soil, Captain Vikram Batra quoting a line immortalised by the slain soldier, “Yeh Dil Maange more”.
This line originally part of Pepsi’s ad campaign is forever etched in army people’s mind as the parting words of Captain Batra (said in an interview) who became shahid (martyr) at the age of 24. As soon as Modi uttered those words controversy broke out. Incidentally in Hamirpur, Vikram Batra’s mother Kamal Kant Batra is running from an AAP ticket against BJP’s bigwig Anurag Thakur. Kamal Kant said in an open letter to Modi that if he truly cares for the family he should withdraw BJP candidate from the seat. Her husband also asked BJP to refrain from dragging the martyr’s name in politics.
Anticipating trouble, Narendra Modi took a step back. He said that he would rather quit politics than allow dignity of martyrs to be hurt. This issue created lot of buzz in the social media with both sides blatantly politicising the issue showing scant respect to the brave soldiers who sacrifice their lives to keep us safe.
In a troubling development, a Muslim woman in Jharkhand has alleged that she was gang-raped by more than dozen men for her associations with BJP. The woman is a member of BJP minority cell. The woman has filed a complaint with police that a mob attacked her in her home on Monday and also assaulted her 13-year-old daughter. Her husband was allegedly handcuffed during the attack.
Police have started investigating in the matter but they have refused to attach any political motive as of now. They have however confirmed that the gang rape indeed took place. Attackers also took huge amount of cash and jewellery from the house of the raped woman. In Bihar, JDU-BJP had cut off their more than decade old alliance when Modi was all set to be anointed as Prime Ministerial candidate. Since then bad blood between the parties have spilled over.
Increasingly more and more people seem to be keeping their personal rivalry at bay to fight against Narendra Modi. In Varanasi, sworn enemy Mukhtar Ansari and Ajay Rai has joined hands against BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Ansari has a chequered record and is currently in jail. He on Tuesday declared his support towards Congress candidate Ajay Rai.
Ansari earlier planned to contest from Varanasi but decided against it to avoid split in “secular” votes. The jailed mafia don lost very narrowly to Murli Manohar Joshi in 2009. Interestingly Ansari is one of the main accused in the death of Ajay’s brother Avdhesh. Truly there is no permanent friend or enemy in politics.
Looks like Mamata Banerjee though plans to be bitter enemy of Narendra Modi for a long time to come. She continued on his verbal tirade against the Gujarat C.M even today. Didi said that the country will be set on fire if Modi becomes Prime Minister. She attacked Modi saying BJP is trying to wedge divide between Hindus and Muslims, Bengalis and Non Bengalis in the state but expressed confidence that their design would be defeated. Lalu Prasad Yadav today added his own tadka to the controversy saying Modi is worse than a butcher. Earlier Derek O’Brien of TMC had branded Modi as “Butcher of Gujarat”.
From one feisty woman to another, Priyanka Gandhi is having a gala time taking potshots on Narendra Modi. She has embarked on a clear strategy to invoke nostalgia about her family legacy and to attack Modi on his perceived weak spots. Today she took on Narendra Modi for his jibes at Rahul. Priyanka asked him to refrain from “bachpana” (Immaturity). She said that a person who wants to become PM shouldn’t say such things and should respect his position. Priyanka urged Modi to outline his development vision rather than indulging in name calling.
In this context, she invoked the legacy of her father. Priyanka said that Rajeev Gandhi was jeered as “computer boy” by opponents for dreaming about a technological revolution. That dream has been fulfilled. Similarly she asked the electorates of Amethi to repose faith on his brother who according to her has great dreams for this country.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday lashed out at Narendra Modi deeming him fascist, and a ruler of an average state. He even equated Modi to the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. Chidambaram said that BJP should take the course of law if they have proof against Robert Vadra. Finance Minister acknowledged that their biggest mistake was inability to communicate with people. His views interestingly are shared by another Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, who said that both P.M and Sonia Gandhi should have reached out more to the common people to address their grievances and to publicise the good works of UPA 2 government.
The long election season has been often dubbed as a political theatre. But sometimes the drama can take fatal turns as it happened in Sultanpur near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. During filming of a live Television show, a man suddenly put himself in fire and then embraced a local BSP leader. Both the men are in critical condition with their body getting burnt severely. The man identified as Durgesh Kumar Singh stormed into the politician named Kamruzzama Fauji who was sitting in stage. Other politicians who were taking part in the debate also sustained minor burns. The motive of the “attack” is still unknown.
In Maharashtra, EC has found evidence of paid news against 4 LokSabha candidates. Notable among them is “youth icon” Milind Deora. Milind mostly comes across as very honest and earnest man in TV. But as they say looks can be deceiving….
Tomorrow is the 7th phase of polling in General Elections 2014. Already polling is over on 349 constituencies. Tomorrow nearly 14 crore voters of 89 seats spanning across 7 seven states and 2 Union Territory will exercise their democratic right. Some of the biggest names in Indian politics will be put to the sword in this seventh round of polling.
Gujarat will be having a single phase election. Thus both Narendra Modi and Lal Krishna Advani’s fortunes will be decided by voters. Similarly polling will take place in Rae Bareli, which is Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s constituency. In Amritsar Arun Jaitley is up against Amarinder Singh of Congress. In Srinagar, under fire Union Minister Farooq Abdullah will also stand for re-election. In Bihar prominent candidates like Sharad Yadav, Kirti Azad etc are in fray. Assembly elections for Telengana will also take place simultaneously with LokSabha polls tomorrow.
We will be back with all the news from the big Election Day. Keep watching this space….
Related Information:
Hamirpur Election Results
Varanasi Election Result
Lucknow Election Results
Rae Bareli Election Results
Amritsar Election Results
Himachal Pradesh Election Result
Jharkhand Election Results
Bihar Election Results
Gujarat Election Result
Uttar Pradesh Election Result
Maharashtra Election 2014 Results
Lok Sabha Elections 2014 Results
