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New Delhi: From the literal demolition of one icon to the verbal denigration of another, the last stretch of election campaigning in the world’s largest democracy has continued to plummet into the depths of amorality.
On Thursday, BJP candidate and Malegaon bomb blast terror accused Pragya Singh Thakur told reporters that Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse “was a deshbhakt (patriot), is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt”. “People calling him a terrorist should instead look within, such people will be given a fitting reply in the election,” she added.
Thakur was answering a question about actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s assertion that independent India’s first terrorist was a Hindu, referring to the assassin of Gandhi. On Wednesday, footwear was also hurled at Haasan in Madurai when he was addressing a public meeting.
Immediately after Thakur’s statement surfaced, there was outrage from all opposition leaders, with Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asserting that insulting martyrs was in the “DNA of the BJP” and demanding an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi had previously defended her candidature by asserting that she had been falsely framed, and claimed that it was an answer to those who had raised claims of ‘Hindu terrorism”. Thakur is out on bail on health grounds but has not been acquitted under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Earlier, she had stated that her curse had led to the death of former Anti-Terrorist Squad chief, Hemant Karkare, who had been killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Thakur had to issue a statement saying she was sorry if her statement hurt anyone’s sentiment, but made no direct apology.
Her rival candidate from Bhopal, Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, who had deliberately avoided commenting on Thakur during his election campaign, termed her remarks as an “anti-national” act.
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“Narendra Modi ji, Amit Shah ji and BJP leaders from Madhya Pradesh should apologise to the country. I condemn the words used against the Father of the Nation. Nathuram Godse was a killer and eulogising him is not patriotism, but an anti-national act,” he told reporters in Ujjain.
After her Godse remarks, BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao stated that the party “completely disagrees” and asked her to “apologise publicly”.
Subsequently, Thakur told ANI that “party line was my line”. Then in a second statement, Thakur said that she was apologising if “someone has been hurt”, adding that “what Gandhi ji did for this country cannot be forgotten”. “I respect him a lot. My statement was misinterpreted and twisted by the media,” she said.
On Thursday night, the Election Commission of India sought a report by Friday from Madhya Pradesh chief electoral officer on Thakur’s Godse statement.
On May 1, the EC had issued a 72-hour campaign ban on Thakur for her remarks on Karkare and Babri masjid demolition. After the end of her ban period, EC had issued another notice to her for violating the directives of the poll body.
Meanwhile, the Modi-Mamata slugfest over the destruction of the bust of 19th-century Bengali reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar continued.
Earlier, Trinamool leaders had released videos to show that “BJP goons”, who were allegedly part of BJP president Amit Shah’s roadshow in Kolkata, were responsible for the vandalisation. BJP denied and accused TMC workers of being behind it.
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Following the violence at the roadshow, ECI for the first time in India’s electoral history ordered campaigning in the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal to end a day before the scheduled deadline – at 10 pm on Thursday night. The EC had also removed principal secretary (home) Atri Bhattacharya and ADG CID Rajeev Kumar.
Opposition leaders from Congress to CPI(M), BSP and DMK joined Trinamool in expressing scepticism over EC’s decision, noting that the ban on campaigning began only after Modi would have finished his two scheduled rallies at Mathurapur and Dum Dum.
The BJP has been concentrating its most valuable campaigner, Modi in both Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. According to Economic Times, Modi has done an average of three rallies in UP and two in WB in every phase of the election.
Speaking in Bengal, Modi said that he would install a “grand statue” of Vidyasagar made up of ‘Panch dhaatu’ at the same spot.
He also took aim at BSP chief Mayawati for supporting Mamata. He taunted that TMC was targeting eastern UP workers in Bengali, which should have been raised instead by Mayawati.
At his rally in Mathurapur, he also raised doubts if his helicopter would be allowed to land in Dum Dum. At the rally there, he asserted that Mamata Banerjee was “bent on destroying all aspects of democracy”.
Rebuffing Modi’s offer to build the statue, the West Bengal chief minister said that Bengal “does not seek alms from BJP”.
“We have the money for a new bust of Vidyasagar, who was part of Bengal Renaissance. Don’t you (BJP) feel ashamed saying that Bengal has been reduced to a state of being a pauper?” Banerjee asked at a rally in Mandirbazar.
On Modi stating that the TMC was behind the destruction of the statue, Banerjee lashed out at Modi, calling him the “biggest liar”, and warned that if it was proved that BJP workers were involved, she would send him to jail. Kolkata Police also set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the destruction of the bust.
“I have never seen a PM who speaks only lies. He should be made to squat, holding his ears, a thousand times for speaking lies and destroying the heritage of Bengal. If you can prove that TMC workers were involved in the (vandalising) incident, then I will quit politics. If BJP workers are involved, then I will send you to jail,” she said.
In yet another state which is going to polls on Sunday, verbal volleys between Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and his ministerial colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu continued.
Sidhu’s wife, Navjot Kaur had alleged that the Punjab CM had ensured that she wouldn’t get the Lok Sabha ticket from Congress for Amritsar.
Amarinder Singh denied his role, stating that she had been offered a ticket from Amritsar and Bathinda, but had refused.
He claimed that Navjot Kaur had wanted to contest from Chandigarh, but since it was a union territory, he didn’t have a role in the selection of candidate and ticket allocation was done by the Congress high command.
However, he added that in his view, P.K. Bansal was a better choice than Navjot Kaur as the Congress candidate from Chandigarh.
In his response, Sidhu asserted that his wife “never lies”.
The Punjab CM also announced that he would take responsibility for the party’s performance and resign if it did badly.
“If Congress is wiped out in Punjab in these polls, what do you think I will do? Obviously, I will accept responsibility and resign,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress has formally started the process of coalition-building.
In an interview to The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Congress president Rahul Gandhi admitted that his party cannot come to power on its own, but will work for a coalition.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has dashed off letters to key opposition leaders for a meeting in Delhi on May 23, the day of announcement of results of the seven-phased Lok Sabha election.
As per media reports, letters have been sent off to friendly leaders like Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, as well NCP’s Sharad Pawar, M.K. Stalin of DMK and N. Chandrababu Naidu. Besides, feelers have also apparently gone to “neutral” leaders like TRS’s K. Chandrasekhara Rao, YSR Congress’s Jagan Reddy and BJD’s Naveen Patnaik.
Earlier on Wednesday, Congress’s Ghulam Nabi Azad had said that the Congress would not make it an issue if the post of prime minister was not offered to the party.
