Trouble for the Scion of India

What is to be discerned from this? Those seeking glimmers of hope for Congress suggest that the BJP may not be doing as well as it claims. Earlier on May 5th, Mr Modi spoke at a rally in Faizabad, with a large picture of Lord Ram as his backdrop. This is near to Ayodhya, the site of much dispute over whether a Hindu temple should be built where a mosque was destroyed, in 1992. Using an image of Lord Ram was presumably intended to stir up Hindu voters. A confident BJP, goes one theory, would not be “communalising” voters at this late stage of an election campaign, as that contradicts Mr Modi’s claims to be interested only in development, not Hindu nationalism. Similarly, a truly confident Mr Modi would not have lashed out at Bangladeshi (Muslim) migrants who supposedly still cross into West Bengal. Over 30 people, mostly Muslims accused of being settlers from Bangladesh, were killed in Assam between May 1st and 3rd, in clashes with indigenous Bodo militants. That Mr Modi spoke after the attack, in effect criticising the victims of such violence, hardly bodes well for communal harmony in the long run. Just possibly he felt obliged to do so, because he considers the message a necessary one to get his voters in West Bengal and eastern bits of Uttar Pradesh to come out.