Modi, a Hindu nationalist from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is playing “his usual game of dividing Hindus and Muslims,” alleged P. Chidambaram, a former finance minister and an influential member of the Congress party, the main opposition party. “The world is watching and taking note of the statements made by the prime minister of India, which are not to the glory of India,” the Congress leader added. After his victories in 2014 and 2019, Modi is the overwhelming favourite to win the election that ends on June 1 after more than 40 days of staggered voting. On Tuesday, Modi filed his nomination to contest the seat he has held for a decade in Varanasi, a holy city for Hindus in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The opposition and rights activists accuse Modi of favouring Hindus, the majority in the country, to the detriment of large minorities, including 210 million Muslims. Modi recently sparked outrage from the opposition by accusing the Congress of wanting to distribute “national wealth” to “infiltrators”, a term often used to refer to Muslims, and to “those who have more children” — again a reference to Muslims. The opposition has referred the matter to the electoral authorities, who have not yet sanctioned the Indian prime minister, whose country is constitutionally secular. The electoral code forbids any campaign based on “communal” grounds. In an interview with the News18 television channel on Tuesday, Modi denied stoking or exploiting any divisions between Hindus and Muslims. “The day I start talking about Hindus and Muslims will be the day I will lose my right to live a public life,” he said in Hindi. The following day, at an election rally, Modi accused the Congress of orchestrating a “‘jihad’ through the ballot” to get Muslims to vote against him. Earlier this week, Madhavi Latha, an actress and BJP candidate in Hyderabad in the south, was filmed checking the electoral cards of Muslim women at a polling station and asking them to remove their veils. Police in the city have opened an inquiry into the incident. In seven phases, a total of 968 million Indian voters are eligible to elect the 543 members of the lower house of parliament — more than the combined population of the United States, the European Union and Russia. Read Also: Kenya. International community sends aid due to heavy flooding (Portuguese version)