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Leading Indian politicians today presented the strongest case for a shorter duration election as they raked up issues that seemed to belong more to 1999 and 2004.
Congress and BJP leaders brought up ‘foreign origin’, Dawood Ibrahim and black money – election planks from the late-1990s – apart from generally accusing each other of lying.
It was as if both the BJP and Congress leaders have exhausted speaking on issues more germane to 2014 in an election that has spawned nearly two and a half months, from the Model Code of Conduct coming into force on March 5 to the counting of votes slated for May 16.
In Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi described Smriti Irani, her brother Rahul’s BJP rival on that seat, as an “outsider”. In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain retorted to say that Priyanka’s mother Sonia would do well to advise her daughter on the issue.
“Smriti Irani was born in India. She is no outsider,” Hussain said, hinting at Sonia’s Italian origins. Hussain said it was surprising that Congress finds people born in India to be "foreigners". He accused the Gandhis – all three of whom addressed separate rallies across India – of reading out carbon copies of old speeches. “Congress should accept its defeat with dignity, not indulge in personal attacks or keep repeating old charges on Gujarat model,” Hussain said.
The BJP leader issued a veiled threat at the Congress leadership, stating that the NDA government would move against all those who have black money stashed abroad. “We know who all have black money abroad,” Hussain said.
Then, there were those like Baba Ramdev, who had to apologise for their foot in mouth statement. On Friday, Ramdev said Rahul went to houses of Dalits “for honeymoon and picnic”. An FIR was lodged against Ramdev in UP. The yoga guru later backtracked on his comments, while Congress termed it “gutter language”. BJP's Yashwant Sinha said the comments shouldn't have been made. BSP chief Mayawati demanded Ramdev's arrest, as the BJP tried damage control as the comment could potentially damage its hope to get Dalit votes in UP and Bihar.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, addressing rallies in Gujarat, accused BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of lying about the Gujarat model. The latter returned the compliment in nearly the same words in his rallies.
In Delhi, Chidambaram described Gujarat as an average state. “It has neither the best performance, nor the worst performance. It lies somewhere in the middle," he said, buttressing his argument with data. He questioned the so called Gujarat model while Sonia in Punjab said may God save the country and people of Gujarat from the so called Gujarat model.
But Hussain said the Congress “should stop playing the same old record” of criticising the Gujarat model. “They have lost two Lok Sabha and three assembly elections in Gujarat on the question of Gujarat model but are yet to come to their senses,” he said.
In another instance of returning to an old election plank, Modi, in a television interview, accused Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde of giving media statements instead of acting against Dawood Ibrahim "What has the government done? I am ashamed that the Home Minister made such statements," Modi said.
Meanwhile in Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said UPA III was possible, but his external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said in UP the Congress may support a third front government. The PM also expressed his sadness at his half-brother Daljeet Singh Kohli joining the Congress.
But in Lucknow, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla, who had recently joined the Congress, accused the BJP of having become a party of foxes. She said Atal-Advani era had ended and people should vote against BJP.
