Local issues trump "religion card" in Indian poll

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

NASHIK, India (Reuters) - Hindu nationalism, Muslim "vote banks", anti-Christian violence, caste rivalry -- Indian politics has more than enough interfaith tension to offer populist orators all kinds of "religion cards" to play.

Coming only months after Islamist militants killed 166 people in a three-day rampage in Mumbai, the campaign for the general election now being held in stages between April 16 and May 13 could have been overshadowed by communal demagoguery.

Some tensions have flared, but debates have turned out to be focused far more on local issues across this huge country. Moreover, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition force, has toned down its religious pitch.

The soft-pedalling of religion highlights how the BJP has struggled to find a campaign appealing both to core supporters as well as more moderate middle class supporters unmoved by communal politics, but who back the party's pro-business stance.

"The BJP is not able to exploit religious identity as much as in the past," said Asghar Ali Engineer, a Muslim scholar and champion of interreligious cooperation who heads the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai.

"Local problems have assumed a greater importance," he told Reuters in his office in India's bustling finance and film capital. "The BJP leadership has to exercise caution -- if they're seen as extremists, they will not be voted to power."

In Nashik, a major Hindu pilgrimage centre 180 km (110 miles) northeast of Mumbai, religious leaders said interfaith relations at the grass roots level were better than campaign rhetoric suggested.

"There was no 'Mumbai effect' here," said Pradnyasagar, chairman of the local Buddhist temple, referring to a feared backlash against Muslims. "The politicians make problems before every election," Imam Mohammad Ismael said at his mosque. "After the elections, it's calm again."