War of words, speculations galore in Indian elections

It is more than two weeks the Indians have been voting in one of the hotly-contested and highly-charged national elections, scheduled to be over in next three weeks' time. The results would start emerging from May 16 next.

Nearly halfway through the balloting, no slackening in electioneering is discernible as many seats in the 543-member Lokshaba, the lower house of parliament, are still at stake. The polls are being held in nine phases involving nearly 820 million voters. Political parties are sparing no efforts to bring the voters to their respective sides. The big players in the elections are confident of their 'victory' and the smaller parties, the regional ones, asserting that they would play crucial role in formation of the next government at the centre.

Opposition  front runner for the prime ministerial position Narendra  Modi of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues his tirade against the members of the "Nehru-Gandhi" family and says that this family has caused 'a lot of harm to the country and the people" during their stay in power for the last ten years. He claims that the 'RSVP' (meaning Rahul, Sonia, Vadra and Prinyanka) has caused colossal damage to the nation for their own benefits during the two terms that the Congress-led united progressive alliance (UPA) has been in power. Rahul Gandhi is the latest scion of the famous "Nehru-Gandhi" political dynasty and largely seen as the next prime minister should the Congress returns to power in the current polls.

Modi who has coined this "RSVP" has been often making this reference in the election meetings. His unremitting attacks on the ruling family members is a weapon for him for convincing the voters about the "misrule of the UPA" government in last decade. He says that all of the "RSVP" are responsible for the situation and adds that "Vadhra" made his fortune out of nothing just because he is the son-in-law of Sonia. Modi jokingly calls Rahul, also the vice-president of the Congress, as "Shahjada" (Prince) and describes himself as a "commoner" who had worked as a "tea boy" in his early age.

On the other hand, the Congress is not lagging far behind in hurling criticisms at Modi and his associates as the party cautions the people about the "dangers" if Modi comes to power in the elections. "India is a great country in the comity of nations because of its multi-lingual, multi-religious and tradition of maintaining unity in diversity", says Sonia and Rahul in their speeches and cautions that India's long-held secular character would be badly affected if Modi comes to power. They say that Modi and his party, unitedly, are a polarising factor for India and the country can ill-afford to bring them to power for greater good of the nation. They also claim that the edge that Modi enjoys according to many surveys would be proved untrue in the ongoing balloting as were the cases in 2004 and 2009.

Other opponents of Modi - who broadly believe in the secular politics- feel that Narendra Modi's credentials as a national leader is highly questionable and as such he must be rejected in the voting. They feel that Modi's ambition to become the prime minister will be nipped in the bud and the "so-called" Modi-wave is a misnomer and created by interested quarters. These parties include smaller and regional parties, who are likely to play an important role in the post election scenario. "Samajwadi" party and the BSP in the  biggest Uttar Pradesh state," the Trinamul Congress" in Paschimbanga, the AIDMK in southern Tamil Nadu and the Janata Dal (Unity) in Bihar allege that Modi is a "divisive force", an allegation that the prime ministerial frontrunner and his allies flatly reject and stresses on the progress of India through broad unity.

The voting in New Delhi is already over and the people here are agog with speculations about the likely winners of the seven seats in the capital city of India. But, the coming scenario of Indian politics is on the lips of everybody in the federal capital. Despite accusations of being "communal" by the critics, the BJP and its leader Narendra Modi appear to be enjoying an upper hand. However, their victory remains a matter of discussions with a feeling among a section of people that the BJP would fall much short of a clear victory. People here are sensing a Modi victory, but the analysts have kept their fingers crossed.   

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