The seasonal war of words was at its peak on Monday as top leaders of the two contending sides, the Congress and the BJP, took the electoral battle into each other’s turf. It had a ricocheting effect across the country, like never before.
While addressing rallies in far-flung Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi hit out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, raking up her Italian origin via the Italian marines case; Sonia had accused him of practising “politics of hate” and warned voters of his “crocodile tears” and “false promises” in Ahmedabad.
But Modi was not so much reacting to the remarks mentioned above, but to Sonia’s jibe made during her Sunday rally in Delhi where she had questioned his so-called nationalist zeal — “some people were beating drums of patriotism,” she had said.
Modi said the people did not need certificate from her (Sonia) and attacked her for having a hand in the Christmas leave granted to the two Italian marines accused of killing two fishermen. Had the Supreme Court not taken a strong stand in the matter, the marines would not have come back, he added.