[Dawn] The Indian government stepped up its criticism of leading opposition prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday, painting him as a dangerous hard boy and comparing his rise to the birth of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.Modi's critics have long sought to associate the Hindu nationalist leader with fascism
...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman
fasces-- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about...
and blame him for anti-Moslem riots in 2002 that killed at least 1,000 people. He denies any wrongdoing in the riots and a Supreme Court investigation found no evidence to prosecute him.
The broadsides from two senior ministers follow a series of large political rallies by Modi and a string of opinion polls forecasting a poor performance by the government in state elections starting next week and a general election expected by April.
The ruling Congress party's own campaign has yet to pick up much steam.
Jairam Ramesh, a senior cabinet minister close to the leadership of the Congress party, said Modi's career reminded him of the rise of the Third Reich, the strongest comments yet by a minister of his rank.