5:06 pm - Friday March 29, 2024

Modi kicks off Haryana campaign with sharp attack on Congress

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After U.S. President Barack Obama raised the issue of religious intolerance in India, The New York Times published a very strong editorial criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what it calls his “dangerous silence” on a series of communal events in the country. The editorial, by the NYT editorial board, lists recent attacks on churches and reports of Ghar Vapsi or conversion and marks out the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for its proposed conversions programme in Ayodhya in March this year, saying the group “was playing with fire.” “Mr. Modi’s continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right,” the NYT editorial surmised. Full text of the Editorial published in the New York Times on February 6, 2015: What will it take for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India’s religious minorities? Attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted no response from the man elected to represent and to protect all of India’s citizens. Nor has he addressed the mass conversion to Hinduism of Christians and Muslims who have been coerced or promised money. Mr. Modi’s continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right. Recently, a number of Christian churches in India have been burned and ransacked. Last December, St. Sebastian’s Church in East Delhi was engulfed in fire. Its pastor reported a strong smell of kerosene after the blaze was put out. On Monday, St. Alphonsa’s Church in New Delhi was vandalised. Ceremonial vessels were taken, yet collection boxes full of cash were untouched. Alarmed by the attacks, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has urged the government to uphold the secular nature of India and to assure its Christians they are “protected and secure” in their own country. There is also concern about the mass conversions. Last December, about 200 Muslims were converted to Hinduism in Agra. In January, up to 100 Christians in West Bengal “reconverted” to Hinduism. Hard-line Hindu nationalist groups, like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), make no secret of their support for a “homecoming” campaign designed to “return” non-Hindus to the fold. More than 80 per cent of Indians are Hindu, but Pravin Togadia of the VHP says his organisation’s goal is a country that is 100 per cent Hindu. The only way to achieve that is to deny religious minorities their faith. The VHP is reportedly planning a mass conversion of 3,000 Muslims in Ayodhya this month. The destruction of the Babri Mosque there in 1992 by Hindu militants touched off riots between Hindus and Muslims across India that left more than 2,000 people dead. The VHP knows it is playing with fire. Mr. Modi has promised an ambitious agenda for India’s development. But, as President Obama observed in a speech in New Delhi last month: “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith.” Mr. Modi needs to break his deafening silence on religious intolerance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his campaign for the Haryana assembly elections with a blistering attack on the Bhupinder Hooda government at a rally in Karnal on Saturday.

Urging people in Haryana to vote for a change Modi said, “”All the governments in the past have brought misery,  there is utter chaos in the state.”

“If you want peace, jobs and security, you must vote for BJP. The state must get rid of the Congress,” he told cheering supporters at the Huda Ground.

Modi also tried to make an emotional connect with the locals saying that Harayana was instrumental in his formative years as he got his education and political training there.

“A visit to Haryana is like homecoming to me. But unless you vote for BJP how will I work for you?”, he asked.

Over the next 10 days Modi will be on a campaign blitzkrieg in the two poll-bound states, with over 10 rallies in Haryana and more than 20 in Maharashtra.

With no local face in these two states, the BJP is banking heavily on him for campaigning, especially since the party split with its allies, the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Haryana Janhit Congress in Haryana.

The PM will also address three rallies in Maharashtra Saturday, and end the day with a public meeting in Mumbai around 7 pm.

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