NEW DELHI: The 2019 poll battle has begun with the contest, charged by the recent Pulwama terror attack and India’s retaliatory air strikes, shaping into a hotly debated referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and alternatives offered by a patchwork of opposition alliances.

The Election Commission’s announcement of a seven-phase poll schedule from April 11 to May 19, culminating in the results on May 23, will spur already intense campaigning that has seen Modi crisscross the country in a spree of inaugurations and foundation stone laying functions that doubled up as election rallies.

With Modi seeking a second term and pitching for a majority mandate, the political conversation is swirling around the PM’s claim to have provided decisive leadership even as opponents attack him for encouraging a culture of majoritarianism and failing to create employment and contain a crisis in agriculture due to low prices. The polls are a stern test for Rahul, who has gone all out to attack Modi.

The PM has hit back, saying he is opposed by a disparate grouping of parties driven by the sole agenda of replacing him. He has responded to Rahul Gandhi’s “corrupt chowkidar” jibes, saying he has been an alert guard who replaced a culture of nepotism and corruption with purposeful governance and took bold decisions to curb black money and counter terrorism.

The fallout of the May 23 Lok Sabha election result is sure to stretch beyond who forms the government. For,
the polls also represent a clash of two imaginations looking to sculpt the country in their mould.