Hindu hardliner vies for re-election in tense Indian state
India’s Gujarat state voted Tuesday to decide if a Hindu hardliner
accused of turning a blind eye to bloody anti-Muslim riots five years
ago will stay in power. Nearly 60 percent of the 17.9 million eligible
voters cast ballots for 87 seats in the western state’s 182-member
assembly, the Election Commission said.
The remaining constituencies will vote on December 16, with results
expected on December 23. The incumbent chief minister and favourite is
Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government
(BJP).
The campaign has been overshadowed by revived allegations that he
deliberately failed to halt religious riots in 2002 in which at least
2,000 people, mainly Muslims, were hacked, burnt and shot to death.
During the campaign, he was also quoted as condoning the extra-judicial
killing of a Muslim man falsely accused of plotting to assassinate him.
“There is an atmosphere of fear in Gujarat and it is not good for the
state or the development of Gujarat,” said India’s prime minister
Manmohan Singh, whose Congress party governs India at the federal level.
“The kind of atmosphere that is prevailing in Gujarat is not
conducive for the state to move forward,” the premier told a news
conference in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s state capital.
More than 50,000 federal police, assisted by local security
personnel, were guarding the 19,924 polling booths to ensure there were
no irregularities, in a state where tensions still exist between Muslims
and Hindus.
For Modi supporters, the impeccably groomed politician is responsible
for helping spur rapid economic development in the western state,
drawing massive investment and improving infrastructure.
The BJP hope that a win by Modi could jumpstart the party’s flagging
fortunes on a national level. Modi, 57, nicknamed the Hindu
nationalists’ “poster boy,” has sought to rebrand himself, making
economic development his central plank, telling voters that “Gujarat is
progressing.”
But Singh, fearful of a resurgent BJP on the national level, poured
scorn on his rivals’ campaign. “There is a propaganda that Gujarat made
strides because of state government efforts,” he said. This is “not
quite true because a large amount of assistance has been made available
by the central government to the state government,” he said.
Friday, AFP
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