Prime Minister Narendra Modi redefined the 2104 Lok Sabha elections with his indefatigable campaigning. Now, nearly five months hence, the PM is busy recasting his own and that of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s election discourse during his public rallies in Haryana and Maharashtra. Today, Modi at his rallies in Haryana launched an ambitious poll pitch that could rob the Congress not only of its icons like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi but also of its traditional support base among the Dalits.
Modi, on his third day of election campaigning for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana, reached out to the state's women, particularly those of the Dalit community. Modi criticised the social evil of female foeticide in Haryana. He said nine of the 15 districts with the worst data on female foeticide were in Haryana. "Female foeticide should end. I know it is a difficult task but no people can prosper if they don't respect their mothers and daughters," he said.
Modi slammed the Congress, which he said has turned a blind eye to the problem to serve vote bank politics despite a women leading it. At his rallies in Hissar and Kurukshetra, the PM asked Haryana's women to help him throw out a government run by goons which has failed to check atrocities against women, particularly incidents of gangrapes of Dalit women. There have been several incidents of gangrape of Dalit women in Haryana in the past couple of years.
In an announcement that could gall the Congress, the PM asked the Centre and state governments to mark the 125th birth anniversary of first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru by taking the message of cleanliness to school children. He said the awareness programme should be held for five days, starting from Nehru's birth anniversary on November 14 to that of Indira Gandhi's on November 19.
Modi said 'chacha' Nehru was dear to children, and that is why on that day schools and aanganwadis should teach children the importance of cleanliness. "We don't practice politics of untouchability or of 'us' and 'them'," Modi said in a reference to the Congress party. The BJP and Modi have rarely, if at all, mentioned either Nehru or Indira Gandhi when listing the makers of modern India like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and others.
In Hissar, where he was flanked by media baron and Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra, Modi asked the Congress to join in this effort to take the message of cleanliness to children, now that Congress leaders and workers have little else to do. Chandra, who hails from Hissar and also addressed the rally, had announced his support to BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The PM was also critical of the alleged move by Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana to facilitate a land deal for Robert Vadra. He said Hooda government had committed the "sin" of fast tracking the land deal under instructions from "above". "I hope Election Commission would look at this decision with due seriousness to see if it violates the Model Code of Conduct," Modi said.
Modi exhorted people in Haryana to ensure a majority for the BJP in the state assembly. In a reference to Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala, Modi said that he didn't need support of those dreaming to take the chief ministerial oath from the prison. He asked people to bring an end to 25-years of corrupt and nepotistic governments in Haryana.