Extravagant abuse in Indian campaign

Indian election campaigns have never been short of extravagant language, but the current one is setting new records for abusive and threatening rhetoric.

In the last few days Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Heeralal Regar declared that the ruling Congress Party President, Sonia Gandhi, and her son and political leader, Rahul Gandhi, should be “stripped of their clothes and sent back to Italy” – a reference to Mrs Gandhi’s Italian heritage.

Regar later apologised for his over-the-top remarks claiming he had been misquoted.

Not to be outdone Congress candidate Imraan Masood, said he would like to “chop [BJP leader] Narenda Modi into pieces”.

The leader of a Congress-allied party, the Nationalist Congress Party, and current Minister for Agriculture, Sharad Pawar, weighed in, saying Modi should be “treated in a mental hospital” and that he was “a danger to the country”.

Modi himself said the leader of the third force in Indian politics, Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, was a Pakistani agent after one of Kejriwal’s colleagues called for a plebiscite in the state of Kashmir which is claimed by both countries.

And Kejriwal hit back saying Modi was “skirting the issues, backing corrupt politicians and fielding scam-tainted candidates”.

The latest Nielsen poll predicts the BJP and its supporters are heading back to power for the first time in a decade with a likely total of 236 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha (parliament) against the ruling Congress Party and supporters’ 92. The result would mean the BJP would have to negotiate with some of the numerous minor parties to secure an overall majority, but this is par for the course in Indian politics.

Voting will be held on nine days beginning on Monday and continuing in various parts of the country until May 12. This will allow sufficient resources to be deployed on each polling day. The final count of votes will begin on May 16.