Modi’s attack forces Rahul Gandhi to clarify his shakti remarks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of 370 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 400 for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as he seeks a third consecutive term.

Modi will be India’s first head of government since Jawaharlal Nehru to get three consecutive terms if he is voted back to power.

Congress hopes to avoid a third successive national poll loss. The Congress last lost three consecutive elections between 1996 to 1999. Modi hopes to equal the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s record of winning three back-to-back Lok Sabha polls in 1996, 1998, and 1999. Vajpayee could not finish his full five-year term on two occasions.

Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi

Congress’s campaign may have started on the wrong foot with Rahul Gandhi’s comments on shakti, which prompted a strong reaction from the BJP and Modi. The comments were made on Sunday in Mumbai during the culmination of the Bharat Jodi Nyay Yatra.

Gandhi said in the Hindu religion, there is a word called shakti and they were fighting it. “…the king’s soul is in the EVMs. That is right. The king’s soul is in the EVM, is inside every institution in India, is inside the ED, CBI, the Income Tax department,” he said referring to electronic voting machines and the use of federal agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to target opposition leaders.

Modi hit back saying shakti represents every mother, daughter, and sister. “I revere them as shakti and worship Bharat Mata. Their aim to eradicate shakti is a challenge I embrace. I am ready for the battle ahead. How can anyone on this earth talk of destroying shakti when everyone worships it?”

Modi’s attack forced Gandhi to clarify. Gandhi accused Modi of trying to spin his remarks. He maintained the BJP’s shakti was not religious, but of “immorality, corruption and lies”. His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sought to shift the discourse to inflation, unemployment, and economic crisis. “The youth are disappointed. The farmers are dying by suicide. People are not able to run their homes due to inflation. Demonetization-GST ruined lakhs of industries. But the Prime Minister’s priority is to divert public attention by twisting the statements of opposition leaders.”

Some Congress leaders conceded that personal attacks on Modi have not helped the party electorally but Rahul Gandhi seems to stick to the same line of attack.

CWC, CEC meet today

Tuesday would be a busy day at the Congress headquarters. The Congress Working Committee and the party’s Central Election Committee were scheduled meet to adopt the party’s manifesto and clear another list of candidates. Congress nominee Rohan Gupta, meanwhile, has opted out of the election from Ahmedabad East, citing his father’s illness.

Trouble mounts for Bhupesh Baghel

Days after Congress named former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as its Lok Sabha candidate, Chhattisgarh’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) filed a case against him in the alleged Mahadev App betting scam. Baghel alleged political vendetta. “The FIR [first information report] against me was lodged on March 4 by the EOW. Why was it not published on the EOW website? My name was later added under pressure.”

He said the BJP fears losing the Rajnandgaon seat. “They know my candidature will have an impact across the state,” said Baghel, who sought to contest the election after he lost the assembly election last December.

Building collapses in Bengal

A building collapse in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election has given a fresh handle to BJP to target West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who suffered a head injury last week, rushed to the scene and announced compensation. But the BJP targeted the TMC, saying real estate promoters pay bribes at square feet rate to TMC leaders. “What more can you expect in such a scenario?” said BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar. BJP similarly attacked TMC following a flyover collapse weeks before the 2016 assembly polls.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) separately on Monday transferred West Bengal’s senior-most police officer, the home secretaries of six states, and the head of the Mumbai corporation as part of its effort to ensure free and fair polls.

Among those transferred are Rajiv Kumar, the DGP of West Bengal — the second ECI-driven transfer since 2016 for the officer — and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Iqbal Chahal. ECI also removed the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and the secretaries of the general administrative department in Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh.