Ahmedabad, December 8
As the clock is ticking fast and the polling day is nearing, political warriors of all hues have landed here from all over the country. Leaders like Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and film stars like Hema Malini have added a new colour to the battle for ballot that can be termed as one of the most hard fought Assembly elections in the history of the country.

It looks as if a nation’s battle is being fought in the form of the Gujarat elections. Such an impression is being deliberately created by the Congress and the BJP.

The BJP, that entered the election arena with a hope of sweeping the poll, appears to have been put on the backfoot by the Congress at the moment. It seems that the BJP’s “Hindutva card is proving effective in a very limited territory. Other issues such as unemployment, corruption, non-performance by the Modi government, power tariff and bank scams have started dominating the election scene.

There appears to be panic in the BJP camp following good response to Congress rallies, especially those addressed by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, in various parts of the state. She has enhanced the number of her rallies. Because of this, BJP leaders like Mr L.K. Advani have decided to stay in Gujarat till the last hour of campaign. The Congress, which was nowhere in the picture at the beginning of the campaign, has gained a lot of ground to make it an even contest. Even poll pandits, who had computed landslide win for the BJP a few weeks ago, have now revised their predictions to say that it is a neck-and-neck battle in Gujarat.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi has not only inducted all Chief Ministers from the Congress-ruled states into the election battle here but also requested Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan to campaign for the Congress to ensure the victory of the secular forces. In fact, a major part of the local print media is projecting the elections as a political war between Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Narendra Modi.

In Gujarat, no other BJP leader except Mr Modi, is an effective campaigner. The BJP President, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, are nowhere in the picture. Mr Modi is drawing big crowds and that is worrying the Congress camp. Mr Modi’s card in the shape of Gujarat’s “gaurav” is getting response, especially in the urban areas. Mr Modi has not explained what he meant by Gujarat’s “gaurav”. Politically shrewd Mr Modi wanted to keep it as a mystery. However, it has been interpreted by political observers that he has tactfully raised the issue of “Hindu glory” in this country through the Gujarat elections where parties like the Congress have been trying to stick to secularism.

If Mr Modi succeeds in building up the thesis of “Hindu glory” in the elections, then the next elections of Parliament would be contested by the BJP making this issue its main election plank. “The thesis of Hindu glory has been put to test in Gujarat in this Assembly elections by the Sangh parivar that has often used this state for testing various fundamentalism-related thesis”, says a local Professor of political science. “How much damage such a thesis would cause to Hindustan’s glory one can’t guess at this moment”, he added.