Watching India’s elections

Letter April 15, 2014
We in Pakistan should hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

ISLAMABAD: Many of us in Pakistan are closely following India’s national election which is being conducted these days. The entire world, including Pakistan and countries of the region, are closely monitoring the proceedings of the marathon Indian elections, spread over six weeks of balloting, in which roughly 814 million registered Indian voters are expected to exercise their right to vote. As reported in the national and international media, the frontrunner for the premiership is Narendra Modi who hails from the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP. His remarks against Pakistan have been inordinately venomous. His Pakistan-bashing spree kicked off from the very first day of his election campaign and has been consistent.

As for the Congress party, its main campaigner, Rahul Gandhi, has said that if Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party BJP gain power, the country’s Muslim population may face tough times. One cannot agree more with Mr Gandhi, especially if one looks at the BJP’s track record, since it has been particularly been against Indian Muslims and Pakistan. Unambiguously, it would be in the interest of Pakistan that the Congress wins in India’s elections since it is considered to be a moderate party.

We in Pakistan should hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

M Fazal Elahi

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2014.

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