Modi presiding over hate campaign: CPI-M

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is presiding over a hate campaign but "camouflaging it with talk of development and effective government", the CPI-M said Wednesday.

The CPI-M journal, "People's Democracy", said in an editorial that beneath "Modispeak" was "an intense communal campaign which is specially concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar".

"The duality in the BJP's election campaign is getting exposed," the magazine said.

"The recent speeches and utterances of BJP and RSS leaders are revealing the Hindu chauvinist and communal character of (the BJP's election) campaign," it said.

It cited the example of Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Nawada in Bihar, Giriraj Singh, who declared that Modi critics will have to shift to Pakistan.

"The branding of all critics of Hindutva as anti-national and pro-Pakistan is an old trick employed by the Sangh combine," the editorial said.

"The allusion to Pakistan is also meant to target the Muslim community who are always caricatured as being loyal to Pakistan."

This speech follows the one made by Amit Shah, Modi's lieutenant, in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh when he called for avenging "the insult to our community".

"It is significant that the BJP leadership defended Amit Shah by saying that he had only called for revenge by voting. Narendra Modi himself came out in his defence."

The editorial went on: "Such hate speeches directed against the minority community and those who oppose the Hindutva agenda are part of the campaign being conducted by the entire RSS cadre who are out in the field to support the BJP's election campaign.

"RSS squads are moving house to house and distributing leaflets which are appealing to the Hindus to come out and vote 100 percent to save the country from malicious enemies."

It also cited the case of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia who has spewed hatred against Muslims.

The CPI-M said: "Modi is presiding over such a campaign camouflaging it with talk of delivering all-round development and effective government.

"But the communal trappings and the divisive hatred being spawned cannot be concealed...

"What is to be understood is that these instances are not aberrations of some individuals," it said. "This is integral to the political platform of BJP and Modi. The people and the country have been forewarned."