Political loyalties are coming under strain as parties prepare for the Indian parliamentary elections and the leading party in the opposition coalition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is not coping well with the pressure. Behind in the polls and fissured with internal divisions, the party's problems were exacerbated today by conflict within its leadership and inflammatory rhetoric from one of its young leaders.
The BJP general secretary and key electoral strategist Arun Jaitley has refused to attend candidate selection, as a split between the party's leaders widens. Jaitley is protesting against the party president Rajnath Singh's appointment of the businessman Sudhanshu Mittal to run the BJP campaign in the North Eastern states of India. He has vowed not to attend any meetings until Mittal's appointment is revoked. Mittal, a former aide of the late leader Pramod Mahajan, is a controversial figure within the party because of his economic largesse and business links.
The dispute has hit the party at a difficult time: the Chief Minister of the southern state of Karnataka, BS Yeddyurappa, is also refusing to attend the meetings because of a personal dispute, while the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ended their 11-year alliance with the BJP in Orissa last week. The basics
Over 700 million people will vote in the 2009 elections, in what is the world's largest exercise in democracy. Elections will be held in five phases between 16 April and 13 May. The final result is expected to be announced on 16 May.
Senior party leader LK Advani has strenuously denied that rifts exist within the party, but Rediff News reports that insiders are seeing Jaitley's actions as an attempt to gain control of the BJP.
Varun Gandhi filmed stoking communal sentiments
The BJP leader Varun Gandhi has faced widespread condemnation after being recorded by the news channel CNN-IBN making communal statements at a party rally in Pilphit in the populous central state of Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Election Commission has directed Uttar Pradesh's chief electoral officer to file a criminal case against Varun.
The grandson of Indira Gandhi, Varun is seen by many within the BJP as the face of the party's third-generation leadership. He claims that the recording has been "tampered with." Varun apparently states: "If anyone thinks that Hindus are weak and leaderless...then I swear on the Gita [an ancient Indian text] that I will cut that hand." BJP leaders have been shocked by the recording, but local political observers said that it was in keeping with the general pro-Hindu rhetoric of Varun's campaign.
(Varun is a member of India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, which has historically been at the forefront of the Congress Party. Sonia Gandhi, the current Congress party leader, is the widow of the assassinated prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (Varun's uncle). Their son Rahul Gandhi (Varun's cousin) is being groomed as a future Congress party leader.)
The party advised all its nominees to "practice caution and restraint in their speeches" later today. India is a constitutional democracy with two houses of parliament, the directly-elected House of the People or Lok Sabha, and the Council of States or Rajya Sabha, elected by the legislators of each Indian state.
The President is the head of state and appoints the Prime Minister, who governs the country according to the make-up of the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) largely ignored the challenge of the BJP in its election manifesto, which it released on Monday. The Indian Express notes that the manifesto devotes less than a page to the right-of-centre, Hindu nationalist party, choosing instead to focus on attacking on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Third Front's prospects questioned
The prospect of a "Third Front" coalition - likely to include the CPM as major players - playing a significant role in the electoral results has been widely downplayed. The Times of India observes that the coalition is a collection of disparate political parties only together because they are not part of either the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the UPA, while The Asian Age sees the situation as a "spectacular display of opportunism in unison."
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati has appeared reluctant to contest the elections as part of a Third Front, while the CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said on Monday that the front would be formed after the elections if its constituent parties were successful.
Muthalik banned from Mangalore
A court in Mangalore in the southern state of Karnataka has banned Pramod Muthalik, head of the right-wing Hindu group the Sri Ram Sene, from entering the Dakshina Kannada district for one year. Muthalik claimed responsibility for attacks on young women in a Mangalore pub on 24 January. The Sri Ram Sene also threatened to target couples on Valentine's Day in protest at "the dilution of Hindu culture and tradition." Competition centres around three major coalitions: the governing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dominated by the Congress Party; the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); and the Third Front, an informal group made up of parties opposed to both the Congress and the BJP. The UPA has been in power since 2004.
The attacks sparked outrage across India and protests from women's groups such as The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, whose decision to send pink underwear to the Sri Ram Sena garnered widespread national and support through online campaigning. Muthalik said he would appeal against the order, claiming that the state government was harassing organisations working for the cause of hindutva (Hindu nationalism).
IPL dates cause for concern
Confusion reigns over the dates for the Indian Premier League cricket tournament following the Lahore attacks. State governments have demanded extra security forces from the Central government in order to host the matches, leading to speculation that it will be impossible to hold the tournament and elections simultaneously as planned.
Swapan Dasgupta, writing in the Times of India, suggests that this could prove beneficial for Indian democracy. Dubbing cricket "a weapon of mass distraction," he warns that it could "prove to be the opium of the voting classes, by lulling India into the belief that it doesn't matter who runs the country so long as there are runs to cheer."
