Thus, he reverted to the Hindutva card in the last week preceding the first phase of election, and is busy doing "communal engineering" as against the Congress's "social engineering."
It was a sensational and shameful moment when during his speech at Mangrol in south Gujarat, he justified the illegal police "encounter killing" of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a small-time criminal who was branded a terrorist.
In the sleepy town, Modi supported his police's action of taking law into their hands and sent the crowd into frenzy.
"Mane kaho Sohrabuddin nu shun karvanu [Tell me what to do of Sohrabuddin]?" he asked. 'Maro! maro! [Kill him! kill him!]'screamed the crowd.
When the campaign began, Modi said he was fighting the election and seeking a second term for his government on the plank of development.
As expected, a week before the election, he electrified his meetings by evoking the basic instincts of his audience. He dangled an excuse -- that Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] had provoked him when she called him 'merchant of death' at an election rally December 1.
