by Mubasshir Mushtaq
NEW DELHI
With India's national elections past the half-way point and set to enter the seventh of nine voting phases on Thursday, the intense campaining has escalated, with a sharp increase in the number of personal and political barbs being exchanged by the country's topmost politicians.
Eastern state West Bengal's Trinamool Congress Party hit back at the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, known as BJP, after their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's "personal" criticism of Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, who he hinted had misused public office.
“Your (Mamata) paintings used to be sold for Rs 400000, Rs 800000 or Rs 1500000, but what is the reason that one of your paintings sold for Rs 1.80 crore (one crore is equal to 10 million Indian rupees). I respect art. But who was the person who bought the painting for Rs 1.80 crore?” Modi said.
“Either he has to prove this or apologize publicly for this. Otherwise we will file a defamation case against him,” Mukul Roy, Trinamool's general secretary told reporters.
A day after calling Modi “butcher of Gujarat” for his alleged role in 2002 Gujarat riots, Trinamool took their criticism further on Monday.
"Each time he (Modi) puts up his hand, you know metaphorically, there’s blood actually rolling down his hand, the blood of innocent children,” said leading Trinamool member Derek O’Brien.
Modi on Sunday raised the thorny and complex issue of “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh, accusing the Banerjee-led government of rolling red carpet for Bangladeshis in the hope they would provide guaranteed votes.
“You can write it down. After May 16, these Bangladeshis better be prepared with their bags packed,” Modi said in the Serampore region which shares a border with Bangladesh. “If people come from Bihar, they are outsiders to you. If people come from Odisha, they are outsiders to you. But if some Bangladeshi comes, your face seems to shine. This country cannot run like this. We won’t allow you to destroy the country for the sake of your vote-bank politics.”
The exact number of such “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh is not known but unverified reports put the number at 20 million, many of whom reportedly acquired voting rights after getting ration cards and other Indian documents for legitimacy.
In February Modi made a religious distinction between Hindu and Muslim migrants from Bangladesh.
“We have a responsibility towards Hindus who are harassed and suffer in other countries. Where will they go? India is the only place for them. Our government cannot continue to harass them. We will have to accommodate them here,” Modi had said.
West Bengal, which sends 42 lawmakers to Indian Parliament, is one of the key states in the ongoing national election and still has 32 seats to be contested.
Meanwhile, the heated verbal exchange between India’s ruling Congress party and oppposition BJP changed course last week when Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sister of Rahul Gandhi started campaigning for her mother and brother in their Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies respectively.
Priyanka Gandhi, who is seen by many Congress party workers as a charismatic leader, has refused to acitvely join politics.
A day after the BJP released a video of her husband Robert Vadra's alleged "sweetheart" land deals, Congress distributed photographs allegedly showing Modi pictured with an illegal money-laundering “operator.”
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the man was investigated by India’s Enforcement Directorate last month in connection with a multi-million money laundering case. BJP dismissed the allegations, saying the photographs are that of a two-year old Gujarat delegation which met Modi as the state's chief minister.
The heated exchange between Congress and BJP is seen as a last ditch attempt to woo voters in India’s biggest and most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 lawmakers to parliament, whose 47 remaining constituencies will be contested on April 30, May 7 and May 12.
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