BAYING hatred before a roaring crowd, Hindu nationalism’s newest hero may be winning hearts, but it is his country’s soul he is after.

Narendra Modi has a vision of a new India: where Muslims know their place and Hindus rule supreme. His supporters call him “The Tiger of Gujarat”, the outgoing Chief Minister under whom this western state, the birthplace of Gandhi, has become a byword for India’s most brutal religious riots in the past decade.

When 50 million Gujaratis vote tomorrow in state elections, the rest of India will watch what has been called a battle for her soul and a referendum on the politics of hatred.

Mr Modi’s campaign is not about better education or lower taxes. It is about what took place ten months ago in a town called Godhra, and the violent aftermath. His manifesto was written there when a Muslim mob set fire to a train of Hindu pilgrims, burning 58 to death.

The attack brought a wave of anti-Muslim pogroms as Hindu mobs stormed through Gujarat, setting fire to Muslim homes, raping women and children, and beheading and burning families to death.

More than 2,000 died, but they are not mourned by Mr Modi, who is accused of complicity in the violence that his police let happen and, in many cases, in which they took part. “Why are you here? Because the same fire that burns in my heart burns in yours,” Mr Modi roars. “I cannot forget Godhra. Anyone with an ounce of humanity cannot forget. Even if you don’t vote for me, never forget Godhra.” The burning train, depicted on campaign T-shirts and posters, has become the leitmotiv of this poll as Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks to capitalise on the communal divide that opened in Gujarat after the violence, pitting Hindu against Muslim. “Don’t let your village become another Godhra,” say the T-shirts dotted around in the crowd, as Mr Modi spreads fear through his audience, telling them that only he and not his Muslim- loving opponents in Congress can protect them.

Many seem to be convinced. Before Godhra, the BJP’s popularity was on the slide. Voters were dubious about its lacklustre performance as leader of the national coalition Government and the Gujarat state government, one of three state governments it still controls after electoral losses. Now the BJP’s popularity is rising again, with polls showing a slight lead over its Congress rivals.

This is a two-horse race between Congress and the BJP, a choice between tolerant secularism and Hindutva, the Hindu nationalist creed. If the BJP loses, the politics of hate will have failed, boding ill for its chances in the 2004 general election. A slim victory may propel the moderates back to the fore if Mr Modi’s tactics are seen to have failed.

But a solid win may show that exploiting communal passion is a vote-winner and such tactics could spread, threatening the very secularism India was built upon and the rights of non-Hindu minorities.

Twenty miles away, in Ahmadabad, Aslam Kasam Bhai Mansour cannot forget Godhra either. A mob led by Hindu militants, among them, he claims, BJP members, killed 17 members of his family, including his wife and five children. He has never returned to his former Hindu-dominated neighbourhood, seeking safety in a Muslim community in an increasing divided city.

He, like his Muslim neighbours, will vote for Congress tomorrow, but with their votes counting for only 8 per cent he is depending on enough Hindus rejecting Mr Modi’s vision if he is to return to his home.

“Our Hindu neighbours betrayed us once when they joined in the mob,” he said. “I pray they do not do so again.”

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