NEW DELHI, AUGUST 22: What began as a whisper campaign by the Sangh Parivar against Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, soon after he denied the BJP the chance to exploit the situation in Gujarat for electoral gains, has been taken one step further by Narendra Modi.

Addressing a Swaabhiman rally at Bodeli near Vadodara on Tuesday, the CM said: ‘‘Someone asked me, has Lyngdoh come from Italy. I said we would need to ask Rajiv Gandhi. Someone asked, ‘Is he a relation of Sonia Gandhi?’’’ Modi said they sometimes met in church, so there must be ties between them.

And it wasn’t a loose cannon let off by the Chief Minister. According to sources in the BJP, the ammunition was part of a campaign planned and given a green signal by the high command. It not only reinforces Sonia’s foreign origins but also underlines Lyngdoh’s Christianity in a state deeply divided along religious lines.

Modi repeatedly referred to the CEC by his full name — James Michael Lyngdoh. At one point, he said: ‘‘People are hired to kill and burn houses and a certain Mr James Michael Lyngdoh comes along and decides that the situation in the state is not good to hold elections.’’

When asked about Modi’s inflammatory remarks, BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu declined to either comment on or condemn them today.

Sources say silence would be the party strategy everytime Modi makes such attacks. With the EC putting off elections, the BJP is desperate to sustain communal polarisation to reap an electoral harvest.

So Modi will keep the pot boiling, and just in case things got too hot for the party at the national level, the leadership will either distance itself from his statements or censure him. The recently announced gaurav yatras are a step in this direction.

Earlier, Gujarat Urban Development Minister Indravijaysinh Jadeja and Agriculture Minister Purshottam Rupala had also targeted Lyngdoh, calling him anti-Gujarat. In a statement, both ministers had referred to remarks made by Lyngdoh while allegedly speaking about attacks on churches in Dangs four years ago.

The remarks against Lyngdoh have been criticised by both Gandhians and Opposition leaders in the state. ‘‘If something does not suit your needs, does that mean you start targeting a person’s religious identity?’’ asks Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidya. ‘‘This shows the mindset of those who are making these statements.’’

GPCC president Shankersinh Vaghela says BJP leaders should stop taking the oath of secularism if they find people of other religions not acceptable. ‘‘Lyngdoh is a constitutional authority. How can you say his decision is based on his biased views?’’ he wonders.

However, Rupala is adamant. ‘‘We accept Lyngdoh as a constitutional authority and respect his position. Our objection is he should not have rebuked the Vadodara Collector in public,’’ he says.

In Delhi, BJP president Naidu shrugged off Sonia’s objections to the gaurav yatras as well, saying he found them surprising as the Congress had held rallies during the riots ‘‘to accuse and abuse Modi’’. He dismissed apprehensions of violence during the gaurav yatras as baseless.