The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, which concluded on Wednesday with the final phase of polling, may have witnessed an increase in the voter turnout, but it will be remembered more for setting a new low as far as campaigning is concerned.

The bitter electoral battle for India’s biggest and politically most crucial state saw contenders hitting rivals with below-the belt remarks, ranging from ‘donkeys from Gujarat’ to ‘terrorist of democracy’, ‘KASAB’ to Gabbar Singh of Sholay. It also saw different meanings of abbreviations like ‘SCAM’ and BSP.

War of acronyms
It all started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally, said that SCAM stood for ‘Samajwadi (S), Congress (C), Akhilesh (A) and Mayawati (M)’. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav immediately hit back. ‘SCAM stands for Save Country from Amit (Shah)-Modi’, he said at election meetings.

Akhilesh chose to take the battle to the next level after Modi attacked him for spending huge amounts of public money on advertising. He said that he was surprised that some people were publicising ‘Gujarat ke gadhe’ (donkeys from Gujarat) and added that he would request actor Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from the advertisement.

BJP national president Amit Shah also joined the chorus with his KASAB remark to describe his rivals, saying it stood for ‘Congress, Samajwadi and Behenji (Mayawati)’.

The prime minister ticked off BSP supremo Mayawati with his new definition of her party — Behenji Sampatti Party. Retaliating, Mayawati gave new meaning to Modi’s name. According to her, Narendra Damodardas Modi stands for ‘Negative Dalit Man’.
SP leader and state minister Rajendra Chaudhary crossed all limits when he called Modi ‘Loktantra ka atankvadi’ (terrorist of democracy).