Prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi used a large rally in the historic city of Agra on Thursday to push his Hindu nationalist agenda in a key election state where the sizeable Muslim minority eyes his campaign with alarm.
With a bigger population than Russia and 80 parliamentary seats up for grabs, Uttar Pradesh (UP) is seen as a must-win battleground for Modi in a national election expected to start by April.
The rally in Agra, where tens of thousands of people filled a dusty field outside the centre of the city that boasts the Taj Mahal, was Modi’s fourth visit to the state in the last month or so, underlining its importance.
The 63-year-old, whose gruelling campaign has put him in pole position to lead the world’s biggest democracy, attacked the ruling Congress for pandering to minorities – making indirect references to majority Hindus and minority Muslims.
“They are … neglecting 75 percent of the people and playing games for 25 percent of the people,” he shouted from a large stage decorated in the saffron colour of his opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Doing injustice to 75 percent of the people is all they have done,” he said to cheers from a rowdy crowd where very few Muslims were visible.
Most of India’s 150 million Muslims eye Modi with deep suspicion, after Hindu mobs killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, in religious riots in Gujarat in 2002, when he was chief minister.
Modi has been accused of turning a blind eye to the violence, or even encouraging it, but he rejects any blame.