Narendra Modi
© Flickr.com/narendramodiofficial/cc-by-sa 3.0Narendra Modi
Indian politicians hit the campaign trail for a final day Saturday before the start of a marathon nine-phase election, expected to vault the Hindu nationalist opposition to power. The front-pages of Indian newspapers are full of Narendra Modi's photos, who is the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, carrying the party's slogan: "Time for a Change, Time for Modi." The BJP headed by Narendra Modi displays intent to act independently from Washington.

Indian politicians had their last chance to woo voters Saturday with the next day being an official campaign break before the first stage of voting kicks off in the far-flung northeast on Monday, AFP reports.

Indian opinion polls point to a strong win by Modi, 63, a tea-stall owner's son and a charismatic politician with a booming voice, who promised to revive the country's once red-hot economy.

Modi, elected three times as chief minister of the prosperous western state of Gujarat, has been rapidly increasing his hold on the BJP's national apparatus, sidelining the party's old guard.

Nevertheless, Modi is seen as divisive because of his hardline Hindu politics in a country where 13 percent of the 1.2 billion of population is Muslim. BJP spokeswoman Nirmal Sitharaman dismissed as "patronizing" and "lacking objectivity" an editorial by weekly newspaper The Economist that said it "would be a wrong for a man who has thrived on division to become prime minister of a country as fissile as India".

Now, however, the only question appears to be the size of the BJP's victory over the scandal-tainted ruling Congress at the end of the nine-round ballot, making it the world's largest democratic choice.

The last term of the secular left-leaning Congress, which has led India for a decade, headed by Rahul Gandhi, the offspring of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was marked by a sharply slowing economy and massive corruption scandals.

Modi is supported by many business leaders who admire what they say is his corporate-friendly administration of Gujarat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party adherence to Indian traditional values makes it negatively disposed to the policy of the United States. For example the BJP and the left-wing opposition criticized the current government for not being firm enough as for US Middle East policy.

Consequently if Narendra Modi becomes the new head of the Indian government, it may create new challenges for the policymakers of Washington.