& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Religious divide favours Modi

REUTERS, Muzaffarnagar
Manoj Balyan wants Narendra Modi to become India's next prime minister when results of a general election are released next month, and not because of the pro-business opposition leader's record as a credible economic manager.
Instead, the property broker and village chieftain is drawn to the Hindu nationalist side of Modi, 63, who he believes will strip privileges from India's minority Muslim population.
"With Modi taking office, Muslims will automatically feel the pressure. They will not dare to raise their voice," said Balyan, 42, to nods of approval from a group of friends.
Such views are common in settlements around the sugarcane belt of Muzaffarnagar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which was hit by deadly religious strife last year.
Voting yesterday took place in Delhi and many parts of Uttar Pradesh, including Muzaffarnagar, where Modi's popularity is running high and Muslimsare worried about their future.
Modi is tainted by accusations that he encouraged or turned a blind eye to Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in Gujarat, the state he has governed for 13 years.
The BJP’s contention that other parties help Muslims at the expense of the Hindu majority has become an increasingly prominent
part of its campaign in recent weeks - notably in areas where religious tensions run high.
The fighting in Muzaffarnagar left some 65 dead, including four in Balyan's village 118 km northeast of Delhi.
Like many others voting in the redbrick villages, Balyan blames Muslim neighbours for starting the violence and the state government for refusing to keep the perpetrators locked up.
“People have been attracted towards BJP because of the riots," said Balyan, who belongs to the same Hindu caste as - and shares a surname with - the BJP parliamentary candidate in Muzaffarnagar. He openly admits to joining the frenzy ofviolence.
The BJP has appealed to the sense of Hindu victimhood felt by Balyan.
Modi's campaign manager Amit Shah was reprimanded this week by election authorities for speeches around Muzaffarnagar that appeared to justify the riots and accuse Muslims of raping, killing and humiliating Hindus.
Modi is favourite to become prime minister, opinion polls have shown, but his BJP needs a big win in Uttar Pradesh, a state that sends 80 lawmakers to parliament.
India's 1.2 billion people include about 150 million Muslims and they form a significant minority in Uttar Pradesh. By adding religious and caste issues to its broader national appeal based on good governance, the BJP is making a last-minute push for support in the electorally vital state, analysts said.
"This would help them mobilise votes at the last moment. That could be the calculation to harvest votes in Uttar Pradesh,” said E Sridharan, of the Pennsylvania Center for Advanced Study of India.
The party's manifesto, published this week, kept in place several issues dear to the party's Hindu nationalist core, including doing away with laws applying only to Muslims that it sees as favouritism.
Almost all the victims of last year's riots were Muslims, including about 12,000 people who were made homeless and now shelter under tents on plots of land bought with compensation money.
The BJP is not the only party to seek electoral benefit in tensions between India's Muslims and Hindus.
The Samajwadi Party, which runs the government in Uttar Pradesh, is wooing Muslims. The ruling Congress party sought and received the support of the imam or chief priest of the Jama Masjid, India's biggest mosque, for the election.
But Modi seems to have clinched the support of many Hindus.
"There is a Modi wave in the whole region and the whole country," said Ankur Raghuvanshi, a 20-year-old commerce student, after he cast his vote in Kutba. "Modi will be beneficial for the country, there will be economic growth, he is a Hindu