By Akhileshwari Anand Raj
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have been sparring against each other for weeks now, in the race up to the Gujarat polls. Modi, addressing a crowd in Palanpur, made a bold claim that the leaders of the opposition party have held a secret meeting with current and former Pakistani officials. He alleged that this took place a day before Mani Shankar Aiyars controversial neech comment against him, which led to Aiyars suspension from the Congress.
Is Pakistan aiding Congress in the Gujarat polls?
Modi claimed that there was an attempt by Pakistan to interfere in the Gujarat polls. He raised questions about the appeal by former Director General (DG) of the Pakistan Army, Sardar Arshad Rafiq for the elevation of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel as chief minister of Gujarat.
He cited media reports about a meeting at Mani Shankar Aiyars house, which was attended by Pakistans High Commissioner, Pakistans former foreign minister, Indias former vice-president and Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister. He stated that this meeting had continued within Aiyars house for over three hours, and the very day after this came the neech comment.
Opposition disregards statements
Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala dismissed Modis claim, as did various other Congress members, terming it as baseless. He asserted that the statement had no truth or fact to back it up, and is merely based on lies. Such behaviour is unbecoming of a Prime Minister, he stated.
Rahul Gandhi, who was named as Congress President on 11th December, began his second day of campaigning for the second phase of the Gujarat polls. He claimed that Modi frequently changed the election planks and that these allegations were because he had nothing else to speak about except himself and the Congress.
As a part of his rally, he alleged that the Modi government worked for the rich, by citing an example that they had given benefits to the tune of Rs. 33,000 crore to the Tatas for the Nano project. He also attacked Modi over demonetisation and the GST, stating that the note ban helped thieves convert their black money into white and the GST destroyed small businesses and rendered over one lakh people jobless.
Appeasing the Muslim minority
The issue of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat was brought back into the limelight, just in time for the election discourse. BJP chief Amit Shah claimed that Charan Singh, a Congress spokesman, had called for the Prime Minister on national television to visit the Jama Masjid to seek forgiveness for the 2002 Gujarat riots. Shah had also raked up the issue of funding of Congress-backed Dalit candidate Jignesh Mewani by hardline Muslim outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
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