BJP goes all out on last day of campaigning

MAHARASHTRA, HARYANA POLLS TOMORROW; PM RAKES UP KASHMIR

As the campaigning for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana draws to a close, the contrast between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) distaste for complacency and the Congress’s lacklustre attempt is the single biggest takeaway.

The BJP, tipped to return to power in both the states as per pre-poll surveys by IANSCVoter, didn’t lose focus. Even on Saturday, the last day of electioneering, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was campaigning in Haryana’s Rewari and BJP chief Amit Shah in Maharashtra.

Despite it being Assembly elections, where local issues should dominate the discourse, the BJP turned it into a referendum on its decision to abrogate Article 370 that gave special powers to Kashmir. The BJP turned national security into the poll plank.

Even yesterday, Modi said, “J&K could not develop as only one family was given preference. You have not chosen me to sit idle and that’s why the changes in J&K are visible today”. At the same rally, he claimed, “We kill terrorists right inside their homes, unlike the Congress, which was scared of dealing with the issue.”

Earlier, while addressing his last electoral rally in Maharashtra, the PM went back to the early 1990s when Mumbai

J&K could not develop as only one family was given preference. You have not chosen me to sit idle and that’s why the changes in J&K are visible today.” Narendra Modi | Prime Minister

was rocked by a series of bomb blasts. “We can’t forget the Mumbai blasts’ wounds. The then (Congress) government didn’t do justice with the victims’ families and the reason for such a stance is now becoming known,” said Modi.

Focal point

The National Register of Citizens (NRC), a process to identify illegal immigrants living in Assam, has remained a focal point of the BJP’s campaign. In fact, Shah kept reiterating it and went on record recently to promise a nationwide NRC.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has also promised NRC. Though illegal immigration hasn’t been a concern for this northern state, the way it was packaged and sold seemed to have received a warm reception from it’s core voter base.

What made the BJP look indomitable was a feeble challenge by the Congress.