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| Tuesday, 27 April 2004 |
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Hindu right hopes to regain momentum as Indian election nears halfway mark NEW DELHI, Monday (AFP, Reuter) India headed back to the polls with two generations of the Gandhi family seeking seats, and optimistic that their opposition Congress party is closing in on the ruling Hindu nationalists. More than 172 million voters are eligible to vote on the third of five election dates in the world's largest democracy. Voting is taking place in 137 of 543 constituencies including one of the most sensitive: Kashmir's insurgency-torn summer capital Srinagar. Exit polls since voting began April 20 have shown a lead by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's coalition, but by a slimmer margin than projected before the start of the election which ends May 10. Vajpayee acknowledged that the polls could no longer be seen as a sure thing for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which hoped to cash in on strong economic growth and a peace process with Pakistan. "Our supporters have taken it for granted that there is no contest. It (the perception) should not be there," Vajpayee told the Press Trust of India news agency in an interview released Sunday. Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, has gone on the offensive by saying the rural poor feel "gloom and distress," not the "India Shining" described by the BJP which highlights the country's booming hi-tech industry. But Gandhi, the 57-year-old widow of slain former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, remains dogged by criticism that she would be unacceptable to lead India as she is Italian by birth. "Though Sonia Gandhi is an Indian citizen, she is devoid of Indianness," Uma Bharti, a Hindu nun and rising BJP star who leads the central state of Madhya Pradesh, told a rally Sunday. Gandhi last her vote in the Rae Bareilly constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the stronghold of her mother-in-law, prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was also assassinated. Rahul Gandhi, the 33-year-old son of Rajiv and Sonia, faces a test by voters in nearby Amethi, as he hopes to become the fourth generation of the dynasty that dates back to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to become an MP. The Congress party led India's independence struggle from Britain and ruled for 45 years but has been out of power since 1996 amid the rise of the BJP, the first avowedly Hindu party to rule the secular country. The BJP has largely played down its past religious agenda in the current election, stressing its record on the economy which clocked more than eight percent growth in the last fiscal year, helped by a bountiful monsoon. Troops were out in force for voting in Srinagar, the urban hub of the 15-year Kashmir insurgency. Only 12 percent of voters turned out in the Srinagar constituency in the last national election in 1999 due to a boycott. Despite beginning talks with the Vajpayee government, separatists have again urged voters to stay away from the vote which they contend legitimises Indian rule in the Muslim-majority territory, which Pakistan also claims sovereignty over. Defending the Srinagar seat is former junior foreign minister Omar Abdullah, the scion of the Himalayan region's long-ruling National Conference party which suffered a crushing defeat in 2002 state elections. Other political stars whose seats are being contested Monday include Parliament Speaker Manohar Joshi in Bombay and Defence Minister George Fernandes in the eastern state of Bihar. Bihar is also home to one of the most colourful races in which Laloo Prasad Yadav, the former state leader and low-caste icon known for his diatribes against the BJP, tries to unseat Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Earlier the chief of Indian Kashmir's ruling party escaped a grenade attack on her motorcade on Sunday, as Muslim militants opposed to elections stepped up violence on the eve of a new round of India's national polls. Mehbooba Mufti, the popular president of the pro-India People's Democratic Party, had ended an election campaign rally in Kulgam, south of the state's main city Srinagar, when the grenade exploded, a witness said. The attack came a day before the vote in Srinagar, where guerrillas and political separatists have called for a boycott, saying the election was no substitute for a resolution of the decades-old conflict in the region. Three people died and 46 others were wounded in the blast which was followed by gunfire in militant-infested Kulgam, officials and witnesses said. Late on Sunday night, militants hurled a grenade at a security camp in Srinagar near the heavily guarded home of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister. There were no injuries, a police official said. |
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