India’s opp rally behind Modi as PM candidate
NEW DELHI, March 3, (Agencies): India’s main opposition party rallied behind business-friendly leader on the weekend, giving the clearest sign yet the Hindu nationalist party will make the politician tainted by religious riots its candidate for prime minister.
Leader after leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), at a three-day national executive meeting, showered praise on Modi, who is chief minister of the western state of Gujarat. They draped him with rose garlands in a sign of respect.
A senior party leader said there was a groundswell of support for Modi as a candidate in elections in Asia’s third largest economy due within a year, when he is likely to face Rahul Gandhi, heir to India’s oldest political dynasty.
“There’s a growing interest in Modi as the PM candidate,” Arun Jaitley, the leader of the opposition in the upper house of parliament said in an interview with the a television network. “And it’s just not because of a media buzz.”
“I think Modi has made a huge mark on the India polity.”
Praise
Supporters chanted “Hail Modi” and “Bring Modi” during speeches at the meeting. Party chief Rajnath Singh embraced Modi and heaped praise on his achievements in Gujarat, where the economy has grown at an average of more than 10 percent for several years.
Modi’s reputation for clean governance and clear rules make him popular with the middle class and a favourite of Indian and foreign corporations doing business in his state.
But his political ambitions were dented by 2002 riots that killed more than 1,000 people, according to official figures, most of them Muslim.
Detractors accuse Modi of turning a blind eye to the violence. He denies the accusation but many Indians view him with suspicion and even some allies of the BJP oppose his rise.
The riots made him a political pariah, shunned by most Western diplomats and denied a visa to travel to the United States. That is changing, with ambassador-level officials first from Britain, then the European Union meeting him this year for the first time in more than a decade.
Meanwhile, India’s hardline nationalist politician Narendra Modi launched a stinging attack Sunday on the ruling Congress party, setting the stage for a pitched political battle in general elections next year.
Modi, tipped to be the prime ministerial candidate of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), blamed Congress for the troubles facing the country at a meeting in New Delhi to set his party’s election strategy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress-led coalition has been buffeted by a slowing economy, high inflation and a series of corruption allegations.
“Congress has sacrificed the country for one family,” Modi, 62, told the meeting, referring to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has given the country three premiers since independence from Britain in 1947.
Incapable
“The Congress party is incapable of taking the country forward... the prime minister is nothing but a puppet of the Gandhi family,” Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, said to cheers from his supporters.
The Congress rejected Modi’s comments as “selfpropaganda”.
“Manmohan Singh is the prime minister of the country and not just of the Congress. His name should be taken with respect. His honour is the country’s honour,” said party spokesman Rashid Alvi.
The Congress and the BJP are poised to go head-to-head in elections in May next year but have yet to name their candidates for prime minister.
However, political observers have been predicting a showdown between Modi and Rahul Gandhi — the 42-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty — with the 80-year-old Singh unlikely to lead the Congress coalition again.
Modi, whose humble roots are in sharp contrast to Gandhi’s privileged upbringing, remains a hugely divisive figure.
He was at the helm in Gujarat during religious riots in 2002 in which some 2,000 people — mainly Muslims — were killed.
One of Modi’s former ministers was jailed for life for instigating the killing, but all investigations have cleared Modi of personal responsibility.
Modi has grown in stature since his third successive win in state elections last year. His main selling point is the economic success of Gujarat, which has enjoyed annual growth rates of between 10 and 12 percent since 2007.
In his speech Sunday, Modi lashed out at Congress for its “skewed” economic policies.
“There is talk of economic reform, but is this reform? Administrative measures to correct bad governance should not be taken as economic reform,” he charged.