 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a rally in Uttara Kannada on Sunday Photo: PTI")
At his public meetings in Karantaka on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of insulting India’s rajas and maharajas, but remaining silent on the atrocities committed by nawabs, nizams, sultans, and badshahs for the sake of appeasement politics.
The Congress responded by saying Modi “maliciously twists” every statement of Gandhi to stoke communal prejudices since he had become desperate because the election slipped away from the BJP.
In a post on ‘X’, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: His (Modi’s) exit is inevitable and his realisation of that is making him more and more desperate. His campaign speeches are shameful really.”
The Congress leadership, including Gandhi, alleged the Sangh Parivar opposed reservations and intended to change the Constitution.
The day saw other notable developments, including the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu stating in Nellore that a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance government in Andhra Pradesh, comprising his party and its allies, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jana Sena, would provide financial aid of Rs 1 lakh to Muslim pilgrims who visited Mecca.
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Polling for Andhra’s 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly constituencies will take place simultaneously on May 13. In an interaction with the Muslim community in Nellore, Naidu said his party had earlier been a constituent of the NDA but never allowed any kind of injustice to be done to the community.
In Delhi, where polling is scheduled for May 25 and the nomination process opens on Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed the Election Commission had “banned” its Lok Sabha campaign song “Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se Denge”. Officials at the Delhi Chief Electoral Office said AAP was asked to modify the contents of the song since it violated the EC’s guidelines and advertising codes. They said that some images and phrases used in the song, released on Thursday, were “slanderous”, contained “criticism of the ruling party on the basis of unverified facts” and also cast aspersions on the judiciary and police. AAP leader Atishi accused the EC of becoming a “political weapon of the BJP” and turning a blind eye to its violations.
In Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) said it would support radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who has decided to contest from the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency as an Independent candidate.
In Chandigarh, SAD (A) President Simranjit Singh Mann said his party would withdraw its candidate from the seat after Amritpal filed his nomination papers. Polling for Punjab’s 13 seats is scheduled in the last phase on June 1, and the nomination process will start from May 7.
Amritpal is in jail in Dibrugarh, Assam, under the National Security Act (NSA). His mother, Balwinder Kaur, on Friday had said her son would contest as an Independent.
In Karnataka, addressing back-to-back rallies in Belagavi, Sirsi, Davangere and Hosapete, Modi repeated his allegation the Congress would introduce an “inheritance tax” and that its leadership would “X-ray” people’s property. “These people will raid every house and capture your assets. After capturing, they are talking about redistributing it, they want it to give it to their loved vote bank...will you allow this loot to happen?” Modi asked.
“You might have heard the Congress’ shehzada's recent statement -- he says Bharat’s rajas and maharajas were atyachari (oppressive),” the PM said. “He (Gandhi) has accused them (rajas and maharajas) of usurping the lands and properties of people and poor ... Congress’ shehzada has insulted great personalities like Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Kittur Rani Chennamma, whose administration and patriotism inspires us even today,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the Congress leader failed to remember Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s oppression.
Addressing a public meeting in Daman, Gandhi said Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat was opposed to reservations. He said the RSS and BJP were intent on abolishing the Constitution and various institutions to make their leaders “kings” of the country and help “20-22 billionaires”.
“Narendra Modiji and RSS want to rule the country like the erstwhile kingdom,” he said, adding that the BJP and RSS want “one country, one language and one leader” (system).
In Sambhal, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP would not win any seat in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls and that the ruling party misunderstood the direction of the wind when it made its slogan of “400 paar”.
