In the five public meetings that he addressed in Rajasthan on Tuesday, BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi restricted himself to bashing the Congress and the party’s supposed “divisive and rule” strategy.
His meetings were in the rural pockets of eastern Rajasthan — Alwar, Deeg-Kumher, Sawai Madhopur, Dud and Bandhikui — where the party is fearing a dent in its vote share because of the activities of party rebel and Meena leader Kirori Lal Meena.
Trying to blow away the ghost of the Gujarat riots of 2002, Modi said: “Divisive politics is the character of the Congress. Divide and rule is in their DNA. It is their political selfishness,” said Modi to a cheering crowd in Sawai Madhopur, 160 km from Jaipur. The Congress has fielded Danish Abrar, son of former minister Abrar Ahmad, from the Sawai Madhopur constituency, which has about 40,000 Muslim voters.
Addressing minority voters, Modi said when he talked of vote bank politics he did not mean Muslims.