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New Delhi: One day after being accused of flouting the spirit of the model code of conduct with his announcement on India's anti-satellite test, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that he will not be deterred from seeking maximum electoral mileage from 'Mission Shakti'.

Addressing a party rally in Meerut – his first proper election programme of the Lok Sabha 2019 campaign – Modi said his government had shown bravery and courage in launching surgical strikes in three domains, land, air and space. The space reference was clearly to Wednesday's ASAT test. The Election Commission is currently examining whether Modi's announcement of the test amounted to a violation of the model code of conduct. A ruling is expected on Friday.

"Our scientists were demanding for testing of shooting down of a satellite in space, [but the Congress-led UPA]  government postponed this decision also," PTI quoted Modi as saying. "To make the India of the 21st century strong and for its security, this decision should have been taken long ago. But it kept getting delayed... It was this chowkidar's government that had the courage to conduct surgical strikes on land, sky and space. India should develop, India should be secure from enemies."

The EC has already warned candidates in the election not to use the armed forces in their campaigns in any way. Though Modi held a political rally in Churu in Rajasthan with the photographs of the 40 CRPF troopers killed in Pulwama featuring prominently in his video frame, no notice was issued to him or strictures passed because elections had not yet been announced. Since then, however, Modi's #MainBhiChowkidar campaign video has also flouted the norm by using proscribed imagery, though no action has followed.

Also read: With a Chest-Thumping Speech on ASAT Test, Narendra Modi Has Shown He Is Nervous

The model code of conduct does not bar Modi from simply speaking of surgical strikes or military action. Yet his reference to the ASAT test in a campaign rally even as the EC is considering whether his March 27 announcement itself broke the law – what he said in Meerut essentially confirms the opposition charge – suggests he is confident there will be no adverse ruling.

At another rally in Jammu, Modi's emphasis was on the Balakot strike and how the opposition Congress and National Conference were working against India's interests. In the Jammu region, the BJP is facing a tough fight for the two Lok Sabha seats as the NC and Peoples Democratic Party will be leaving the field empty for a straight contest between the Congress and the ruling party.

Modi's Meerut rally was also significant in two other respects. A less than house-full attendance, and an attempt to poke fun at the Samajwadi-Rashtriya Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party-alliance which fell flat. "Sapa ka 'sa', RLD ka 'Ra' aur Baspa ka 'ba', matlab 'saraab', he said, using the first letters of the three parties – Sa, Ra and Ba – to spell the word saraab, which he translated as liquor. This he said was the dangerous offering the coalition represented for the voters of Uttar Pradesh. The only problem is that the Hindi word for liquor is sharaab and the word begins with the letter sha and no sa. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav was quick to pounce on Modi:

In his tweet, Yadav said, Modi's "teleprompter had exposed the secret that people who spread the intoxicant of hate do not know the difference between saraab and sharaab. Saraab is another word for a mirage, which is what the BJP has been showing people for five years but can never be reached. Now that elections are near, they are showing a new mirage."

Pakistan wants Modi to lose?

Another theme Modi dwelt on was that Pakistan and the terrorists there wanted him to be defeated in the elections and for the opposition to win.

The irony is that shortly after the Pulwama terror attack on the CRPF convoy, the noted terrorism expert and Pakistan watcher C. Christine Fair wrote that "Pakistan is ensuring Modi's win by using the Jaish e Mohammad, its sword arm". "Pakistan", she argued, "knows that Prime Minister Modi is facing a tighter race than he did five years ago and there is little doubt that Pakistan wants to ensure another Modi victory... The Pakistanis have given Modi a powerful opportunity to flex his chest muscles and bolster his support which has waivered in recent months. And given the audacity of the attack and calls for revenge, Modi has few options to play into Pakistan’s cunning gamble."

A different kind of intoxicant in the Northeast

Several hundred kilometres to the east, BJP president Amit Shah addressed rallies in Assam, but, like Modi, focussed more on security and fear-mongering than on his party's economic record. Speaking at Kaliabor, he said the Congress had teamed up with the All India United Democratic front of Badruddin Ajmal – a Muslim-led party that has three MPs in the current Lok Sabha – in order to "fill Assam with infiltrators" if they come to power.

'Infiltrators' is the term the BJP uses for undocumented migrants from Bangladesh who are Muslim. Undocumented Hindu migrants it calls 'refugees', and has tried to amend the law to fast-track Indian residency and citizenship for them, much to the consternation of people across Assam and the north-east who are opposed to further migration of Bangladeshis regardless of religion.

I assure you, make Narendra Modi the prime minister again and we will throw out each and every infiltrator out of Assam," said Shah at a rally in Jorhat. As for the Congress and AIUDF, "they will fill Assam with infiltrators. Do you want Assam to be filled up by infiltrators?" he asked.

Also read: BJP is Replicating the Shiv Sena-Model in Assam. This Should Worry the AGP

So unpopular is the BJP's citizenship proposal in the northeast that several of its erstwhile regional partners in the North East Democratic Alliance have decided to fight the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. While BJP leader Ram Madhav acknowledged on Thursday that this means the party will find it difficult to reach its target of 22/25 seats from the seven sisters, he said any seats its NEDA partners win would help Modi form the next government.

Congress promises, and the CPM's manifesto

On Thursday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) unveiled its election manifesto, centred around the right to work, dole for the unemployed and a guaranteed pension of Rs 6,000 per month for senior citizens.

The Congress manifesto has not yet been released but party president Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to PTI where he described his NYAY proposal as the Congress's way of "remonetising" the economy. He also unveiled a number of 'business friendly' economic policy proposals, including cutting red tape for businesses, exempting new enterprises from seeking clearances for the first three years, making bank loans easier, etc. These are all areas where the Modi government has not just taken steps but received international recognition from the World Bank as well. Of course, the government's performance on the bank's human capital index last year was nothing to write home about.

Coming soon, Modi interview to friendly media.

Viewers are bracing themselves for the final series of interviews of Modi's tenure as prime minister. The first of what will likely be several interviews during the campaign is with the Hindi channel of the pro-establishment Republic TV. All his interviews to date have had a scripted feel, with soft lob questions and no follow-ups. Modi has not addressed a single press conference in his five years as PM.

On Thursday, the political commentator Dhruv Rathee poked fun at the sort of fawning coverage Modi has received from the bulk of the media:

Manvendra Singh gets Barmer ticket, Priyanka talks of Varanasi

Manvendra Singh, son of the former defence and foreign minister Jaswant Singh, left the BJP for the Congress last year but was made to contest against the then BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje in her home turf. Having swallowed that bitter pill, Singh has now been given the Congress ticket for his old Lok Sabha seat of Barmer, where he is expected to put up a strong fight against the BJP.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who is expected to play the role of the party's star campaigner in Uttar Pradesh dropped a hint that she might well contest the coming election against Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

Ever since the Congress announced her formal entry into party politics, there has been considerable speculation about what exactly the party's strategy is. Having her campaign across the state would give a little boost to the Congress's chances but not enough to allow most of its candidates to do anything more than take anti-BJP votes away from the 'saraab' coalition Modi attacked. Fielding Priyanka from Varanasi would mean the prime minister might have to spend more time campaigning there than he might otherwise prefer to do.

Another school of thought within the Congress has it that both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi should spend their maximum time campaigning in seats and states where the BJP's principal challenger is the Congress and the UPA – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand – and not in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and other states.

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