Sunday Times 2
War of words in India’s first family as poll points to defeat
NEW DELHI (AFP) – A war of words has erupted among the “first family” of Indian politics as a new poll pointed to a sweeping election win for the Hindu nationalist opposition.
Priyanka Gandhi, sister of Rahul Gandhi who is leading the ruling Congress party’s campaign, called the bitterly fought election contest an “ideological war” against the hardline Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Priyanka was targeting her estranged cousin Varun Gandhi who is running for re-election as a member of parliament for the BJP, accusing him of “betraying the (ideals of the) family.”
Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of India's Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, speaks to supporters during an election rally in Raebareli on April 16. AFP
“This is not a family tea party, this is an ideological war,” said Priyanka as an opinion survey by India’s NDTV channel projected the BJP would clinch a parliamentary majority with its allies.
“It is a fight for the heart of the country,” said Priyanka, 42, while campaigning in the multi-phase election for her brother Rahul, 43, local media reported.
Priyanka, Rahul and their mother, Congress party president Sonia, 67, have increasingly focused on what they charge is the BJP’s threat to secularism in the religiously diverse nation as Congress’s support has plunged amid voter anger over corruption, spiralling inflation and a sharply slowing economy.
Analysts say a majority would give the BJP freer rein to implement its Hindu nationalist agenda in India where 13 percent of the population is Muslim.
Rahul, Priyanka and their cousin Varun, 34, are all heirs to a political dynasty — the so-called “first family” of Indian politics — that has given India three Congress prime ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv since independence from Britain in 1947.
After Indira’s assassination three decades ago by Sikh bodyguards, the political torch passed to her son Rajiv, later killed by a suicide bomber, and then to his Italian-born widow Sonia.
While Sonia’s children Rahul and Priyanka, stayed with Congress, their cousin Varun joined the BJP.
Varun “is definitely from my family, he’s my brother. But he has gone astray,” Priyanka said.
“When a young one in the family chooses the wrong path, then the elders show them the right path, the right way. I urge all of you to show my brother the right path,” she exhorted villagers.
Varun said Priyanka crossed the bounds of decency with her remarks.
Priyanka, with her strong resemblance to her grandmother, Indira, has long been touted as Congress’s potential saviour.
While Congress has been looking for a miracle with successive polls showing its popularity sinking, the mother of two children has so far shown no desire to play a major political role even though she is considered a more gifted campaigner than her brother Rahul.
The NDTV poll suggested the BJP alone would grab 226 seats and with its coalition partners would reach the crucial 50 percent mark. Congress would see its tally plunge to a record low 92 seats, the poll projected.
“My own view is the actual poll always results in the frontrunner getting more than what is projected,” senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
Amulya Ganguli, a political commentator, said Muslims in particular would feel a “great deal of uneasiness” at the prospect of BJP leader Narendra Modi securing a majority given his reputation as a Hindu nationalist hawk.
Modi, 63, is reviled by many Muslims as he was chief minister of Gujarat state in 2002 when at least 1,000 people were killed in religious riots. Most of the victims were Muslims.
The BJP’s manifesto includes pledges that worry Muslims, such as possible construction of a temple to honour the Hindu god Ram on the site of a mosque destroyed by Hindu radicals in 1992 that remains one of India’s worst religious flashpoints.
If the BJP-led alliance falls short of a majority, it may seek a deal with the West Bengal-based Trinamool, forecast by NDTV to be the third-largest party with 30 seats, analysts suggested.
Trinamool’s firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee called the idea of a Modi premiership “fantasy” but the former Congress ally indicated she was open to offers as long as her state benefited.
Voting began on April 7 and ends May 12 with results due four days later.