India election: Modi, Gandhi and the Chinese dragon in the room

A week out from the polls, Pakistan is dominating the election spotlight as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party attempts to ride on nationalist sentiments

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in Shillong, Meghalaya state. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:30am, 6 Apr 2019Updated: 7:02pm, 6 Apr 2019

LESS THAN A month before the election in the world’s largest democracy begins on April 11, China’s Global Times newspaper ran an acerbic opinion piece headlined “Modi Playing China Card to Win Election”.

Academic Jabin T Jacob was not amused. On the contrary, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stayed studiously circumspect on China, he said. And there had been barely any election spotlight on the neighbour which India views as a strategic rival, said the associate professor of International Relations and Governance Studies.

The Shiv Nadar University don had earlier written a commentary for an Indian news website in which he lamented the lack of political spine to bring China into the campaign.

“There still is no confidence to bring it into electoral discourse, the way the Americans have done. This is despite the fact that the Chinese challenge to India’s political values, economy, and regional and global strategic interests is real and visible,” he wrote.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP

Despite the claim by the state-owned Global Times, India has barely moved the needle on China in the run-up to the polls.

Not many have taken up the cudgels against Beijing even though it last month again blocked the United Nations’ moves to designate Masood Azhar – chief of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) – a global terrorist. The JeM is believed to be behind a February 14 bomb attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying paramilitary personnel in disputed Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.