August 24, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Saani 14, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Aug 23: India’s ruling Hindu nationalists are to field Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, widely criticized by various Indian and international human rights groups for failure to prevent the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat.

The Hindustan Times newspaper said on Friday the BJP is planning to send Modi to spearhead its electoral campaign in the Hindu-majority Jammu region.

According to the paper, Modi is expected to hit the campaign trail sometime next month with a specific brief to portray the “non-Muslim” regions of Kashmir as victims of terror, and of discrimination by the held state’s ruling National Conference (NC).

The BJP was banking on Modi “to fire Hindu imagination” and to “freeze the rising stock of the (main opposition) Congress party in (held) Jammu”, the paper said.

Occupied Jammu accounts for 20 of the 87 seats in the held state’s legislature and Modi is expected to “whip up Hindu pride” which would hopefully translate into votes for the BJP, the daily added. —AFP