With just two days left for it to end, the high octane campaign in Delhi Assembly polls reached its crescendo on Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pulled no punches in attacking rivals on the new citizenship law, unemployment and appeasement politics.
As the scions of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty jumped into the campaign mode for the first time in the February 8 polls, Modi trained his guns at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, saying Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but support the Citizenship Amended Act(CAA), abolition of Article 370 and issues of national security.
Rahul Gandhi for his part accused the BJP and AAP of spreading hatred in the society. He also accused the government of selling state enterprises such as IndianOil, Air India, Hindustan Petroleum and the railways as well as the Red Fort, and said, "He (Modi) may even sell the Taj Mahal".
Priyanka Gandhi attacked Modi over the issue of job losses and took a dig at his "sanyog-prayog" remarks on Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA protests in Delhi, asking whether the rise in unemployment was a coincidence or his experiment.
At a poll rally on Monday, Modi said the protests against the new citizenship law in Shaheen Bagh and other areas here are not a coincidence but an "experiment" ("sanyog nahi prayog") and a political conspiracy to destroy the country's harmony.
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Kejriwal said Union Home Minister Amit Shah wants to fight the entire election on Shaheen Bagh protests and that the BJP has no other issue.
"The BJP will not talk about anything else because they have nothing else to talk about. Just Shaheen Bagh, Shaheen Bagh, Shaheen Bagh, Hindu-Muslim , Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim and Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan...That is all they do," Kejriwal told NDTV.
In his second rally in the city in two days, Modi touched on various issues, including surgical strikes and his government's flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme.
"You must punish those who insult the armed forces. You should vent your anger through your vote. Delhi does not need a government which gives opportunity to enemies to attack us," he told the rally in Dwarka.
He said the national capital also needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame game.
The anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city did not find any mention in his speech, unlike his address in Karkardooma on Monday when he said they were not a coincidence but a political conspiracy to destroy the country's harmony.
"Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but support the CAA, abolition of (special provisions of) Article 370 and issues of national security," he said in a speech that lasted a little over an hour.
He also accused the opposition of spreading lies and rumours about the CAA, a legislation which seeks to give citizenship to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Muslims have been excluded from it.
The prime minister accused the Kejriwal government of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the flagship initiative of the Centre, in the national capital and asked if the AAP government's 'mohalla clinics' will work if Delhiites fall sick outside the city.
The people of Delhi have seen how the AAP government practises the politics of hate, he said.
"People of Delhi have seen how the (AAP) government practises politics of hate. Delhi needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame game."
Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi and Kejriwal were not interested in providing jobs to youngsters, but were keen on making one Indian fight another for staying in power.
He said the current environment in the country, the hatred, the violence and the attacks on women were harming India and people were not benefitting from it.
"Modi and the BJP may be benefitting from it, but Indians are not. If you want development and employment, you will have to erase hatred from the hearts of people," the former Congress president told a party rally in Jangpura.
He hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not addressing the economic slowdown and the issue of unemployment, but instead, encouraging violence.
The aim of the BJP and the AAP was to spread hatred in the society, something the Congress could never do, Gandhi said.
He also slammed Modi for not talking about the economy and unemployment in his poll speeches and said the prime minister did not have the guts to do it.
"Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal have nothing to do with this (creating jobs). They want to make one Indian fight another and stay in power," Gandhi added.
Alleging that Modi and Kejriwal could only think about power, he said, "They can announce anything in two minutes to stay in power."
The BJP also drafted its 240 MPs in its push to regain power in Delhi and asked them to campaign for the party in colonies populated mostly by poor voters. The party president J P Nadda made this announcement at its parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, party sources said.
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