With loud grumblings amid guarantees galore, India gears up for Lok Sabha elections

Soaring temperatures in India this week saw a political parallel as parties turned up the heat against one another, with the Opposition crying foul over increasing (and coincidental?) crackdowns ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and the Narendra Modi-led BJP touting its achievements and doubling down on guarantees in the run-up to the polls.

‘Terror’ and hubris in the house of Indian democracy

The week began with the Congress fuming about receiving fresh I-T notices to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore, which they were quick to label as “tax terrorism” by the ruling BJP and an “egregious” attack on Indian democracy. Not content with mere rhetoric, the grand old party also held protests across the country, while Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the I-T department of “mysteriously” turning a “blind eye to the BJP's tax violations”. The saffron party, for its part, labelled the Congress outbursts as a symptom of the grand old party’s “arrogance”.

The kings are in jail, long live the queens

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, failed to get relief from courts, but continued to operate as the Delhi Chief Minister from jail, punctuated by yoga and reading sessions, much to the ire of the BJP.

While Kejriwal handled administrative affairs from jail, his wife Sunita, along with former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana, took up the mantle of training guns on the BJP, addressing a mega I.N.D.I.A. bloc rally that hinted at bigger political roles to come for the two women.

With the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc rallying behind the jailed AAP chief and crying out against attempts to smother democracy, the BJP was left unamused, and PM Modi dubbed the rarely-seen unity among Opposition parties as a bid to “save the corrupt”.

Carrot or stick?

As sparks flew over Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi Marlena fanned the flames, alleging that she’d been given an offer that one would imagine would be hard to refuse: join the BJP or face arrest. The development came around the same time that Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj’s name came up during Kejriwal’s hearing, which the AAP said was a desperate bid by the BJP to shut down the Delhi-based political party.

Undeterred, however, Atishi held fort, only to receive a notice from the Election Commission, on the back of a complaint by the BJP on her “unsubstantiated” claims against the saffron party.

While Atishi, if claims are to be believed, was offered the proverbial ‘carrot’ before the stick, TMC leader Mahua Moitra was not extended that courtesy: even as the Opposition railed against the alleged misuse of central agencies by the BJP, the former Krishnanagar MP, already under fire over the cash-for-query row, was slapped with a money laundering case by the ED.

Something fishy…

Far from the commotion in the national capital, PM Modi raked up a political storm in Tamil Nadu after accusing the Congress of “callously” giving away the island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974.

However, instead of riling up the fisherfolk of Rameswaram against the Congress, the PM only invited their ire, as they recalled unfulfilled promises made by the BJP in 2014 to help reduce detentions of fisherfolk by Sri Lanka and lashed out at the saffron party for raking the issue up before the Lok Sabha elections.

Bond bond mein vishwas

Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu also saw the media-shy prime minister break his silence on electoral bonds: in an interview with Thanthi TV, the PM defended the controversial scheme saying that it promoted transparency as against the earlier cash-based practice in political donations. The PM, however, admitted that “nothing is perfect” and assured that “imperfections” could be addressed later on, even as news on electoral bonds slipped away from the limelight.

Joining the bandwagon

Artificial intelligence has been the buzzword since 2023 and PM Modi joined the bandwagon this week, with the BJP deploying AI to translate the prime minister’s speeches to several local languages in the South, as well as into Bengali, Odia, and Punjabi.

However, whether the use of AI helps Modi and the BJP make inroads into hitherto inhospitable states remains to be seen.

On the campaign trail…

PM Modi this week also kicked off the NDA campaign for the Lok Sabha polls from Bihar, before travelling to Bengal and Rajasthan for rallies.

While the PM was greeted by thousands of supporters during his campaign tours, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took exception to the PM’s attacks against the Opposition, and held a parallel rally wherein she proclaimed that poisonous snakes were more trustworthy than the saffron party.

This week also saw both the BJP and the Congress release their lists of star campaigners for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, with all expected faces making the cut.

Manifesting a manifesto

With only two weeks to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress this week unveiled their poll manifesto, promising work, wealth, and welfare for 140 crore Indians, including a slew of related measures such as legal guarantee for MSP, a raise in the reservation cap, and a nationwide socio-economic caste census, among others.

The BJP, however, labelled the promises a “bundle of lies” and reminded everyone about the party’s recurring failures to manifest the promises made in earlier poll manifestos.

Wayward in Wayanad

Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad with question marks over Amethi gave Union Minister Smriti Irani ample ammunition to target the Congress leader. Accusing Rahul of abandoning Amethi, Irani cited Rahul’s absence from Kerala and forecast the same fate for Wayanad, and attacked the grand old party for seeking support of the SDPI, the political arm of the banned PFI.

The absence of IUML flags during Rahul’s rally in Wayanad also grabbed eyeballs, with both the CPI(M) and the BJP attacking the Congress leader, albeit in different ways.

As regards Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband Robert seems to have thrown his hat into the ring, and has hinted that he is keen to make his political debut from the seat, which, for long, had been a bastion for the Gandhi family.

Nataka in Karnataka

Karnataka too saw its fair share of political drama this week, with uncertainty about actor-turned-politician and Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh’s political future and friction between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa.

When the dust settled, Sumalatha laid rumours to rest and declared that she would join the BJP but would not contest the Lok Sabha polls this time.

Eshwarappa, meanwhile, read between the lines and took Shah’s snub as a message to contest the parliamentary elections independently.

Friday also saw reports suggesting that a BJP leader had been detained by the NIA in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru, but the agency neither confirmed nor denied the reports, equivocating, "unverified news items hamper effective investigations in the case".

Nation in a nutshell

Apart from the developments mentioned above, this week also saw AAP leader Sanjay Singh getting bail in the Delhi excise policy case. Out of prison after six months, Singh was quick to exercise his newfound liberty, and promptly attacked the BJP over Kejriwal’s arrest immediately after release.

This week also saw the Supreme Court issue a notice to the EC on a plea by the Congress to count all VVPATs, with the grand old party expressing doubts about the reliability of EVMs.

The Kharge-led party also launched an all-out attack on the BJP over the issue of corruption-accused leaders getting clean chits after joining the saffron party.

BJP’s Mandi candidate Kangana Ranaut, meanwhile, invoked the Alia Bhatt of yore, and confidently asserted that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and not Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first Prime Minister of India, much to the amusement of the internet.

This week also saw former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leave the political arena as he retired from the Rajya Sabha after a 33-year stint.

Beyond the borders

While political parties in India were busy getting at each other’s throats, some unwarranted attention from international quarters on the developments in India ruffled EAM Jaishankar’s feathers, who spent much of the week establishing the meaning of ‘sovereignty’.

India’s troubled relations with boisterous China also made its way into national politics this week, with the Congress attacking the BJP over Beijing’s repeated attempts to claim Arunachal Pradesh. In a dig aimed at PM Modi and his famed ‘56-inch chest’, Congress chief Kharge said that while the BJP is vocal about Katchatheevu and the row with Sri Lanka, the party’s leaders cower in front of China.

The ongoing war in the Middle-East also grabbed the headlines this week, with the US threatening Israel with policy changes unless Tel Aviv addressed humanitarian concerns in Gaza. Israel also got a slap on the wrist from the United Nations on Friday, with the agency’s human rights body calling for Tel Aviv to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in war-torn Gaza.

That sums up the major political developments this week, both in India and beyond. Tune in next week as we bring you more drama from the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

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DH Newsletters Team