BJP resorting to 'Hindutva'

Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organization Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is carrying the main issue of 'Hindutva'.

In order to win the election for the third time in a row, the BJP, which has been strongly raising accusations of corruption, dynasticism and the dream of a developed India or a world power, has recently changed its campaign strategy and has again made Hinduism, the issue of Ram temple, attacks on Muslims and the issue of Hinduism as a major election weapon.  ; Matters such as moving Ram who was in a 'tent' to a palace (temple) in Ayodhya, and the sin of the Congress by rejecting the invitation to the Ram Temple's sacredness have become the priority of Modi's speech.

When the opposition Congress party is saying that democracy will be in crisis if BJP wins for the third time, Modi has started trying to attract Hindu voters to BJP by saying that even listening to Hanuman Chalisa will be a crime if the Congress government is formed. Addressing an election meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday, he gave the example of a shopkeeper who was playing Hanuman Chalisa in Congress-ruled Karnataka and was beaten to death some time ago. He says that the Congress is trying to reduce the reservation for backward classes and give it to Muslims.

Addressing an election meeting in Rajasthan's Banswara last Sunday, Modi said that if the Congress comes to power, everyone's wealth will be distributed to Muslims. Modi gave a traditional hateful speech given to Muslims by Congress by taking away the mangalsutra of women's mothers and sisters. He called the Muslim community as intruders. Narrating that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that everyone should get the opportunity for development and Muslims are the first to be entitled to it, Modi said, "Should intruders get the earnings of your hard work?" Modi accused the Congress of taking a strategy of taking the details of everyone's assets and distributing them.

Modi has said that the Congress is focusing on the income of the common man and has gone to the extent of taking away the property of mothers, sisters and sisters by changing the law. They will also take account of the jewelry kept by mother and sister. Mangalsutra will also be removed . And, it will be distributed to everyone,' said Modi, 'it will be distributed to them, which Manmohan Singh said - the first right to the property will be of Muslims, it will go to them . He will not even let your Mangalsutra escape. BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah has also repeated Modi's statement. He has warned that the Congress will not leave the property of the monastery.

Congress has mentioned the subject of caste census and population-wise opportunities in its manifesto . The Congress has given a 'counter' to the BJP's continuous efforts to attract Hindu voters by 'Hindu-Muslim' by giving the slogan of caste census and opportunities accordingly. Not only did Prime Minister Modi and the entire BJP attack the Congress, the manifesto of the Congress also explained that the property of the Hindus would be taken away and would go to the Muslims. From Modi, Shah, party president JP Nadda to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the party's chief propagandists have started emphasizing on speeches to polarize Hindu voters emotionally in favor of the BJP .

Journalist Ravish Kumar has made a sarcastic appeal to Prime Minister Modi on the social network 'X' to announce that he will speak only about his work without mentioning any religion, worship, text or temple in one of his meetings. He has written, "From Modi's speech, temple, Muslim chant". Can't the title of the magazine be like this?'

Modi's guarantee of 'Developed India by 2047' Why has BJP again turned to communal slogans from a positive propaganda campaign? Abhay Kumar Duve, a political thinker and professor of Ambedkar University, comments that after the lack of enthusiasm among the voters and workers in the first phase of the election, the BJP has resorted to anti-Muslim appeasement slogans. He has written, edited and translated dozens of books and his famous book also includes 'Sampradaya Kita Sora'. He says that it will be easy to polarize voters by showing fear of communal issues. When talking about development, common people say that they have done a good job. It creates a positive atmosphere. But there is no guarantee that the vote will change,'' he said to Kantipur, 'that is why anti-Muslim issues have been raised.' The ruling BJP is reeling after the turnout decreased. It has been analyzed that BJP will lose due to low voter turnout. In 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, with the slogan 'India Signing', held early elections with the confidence of winning the elections. There was an atmosphere that BJP is winning everywhere. However, the BJP was defeated. Even after analyzing those situations, BJP has embarked on a strategy of emphasizing 'Hindutva' rather than anti-corruption or development to polarize the voters and bring enthusiasm to the workers. Duve's analysis is .

However, he says that there is no anti-government wave in this election against the ruling party which is running the government at the center for two consecutive terms . But Duwe said that this means that the voters do not have the zeal to elect him again. He mentioned that BJP's strategist may have changed the style of campaign due to the same impression.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 272 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 336 seats. Even after 5 years in 2019, Modi's magic worked . 303 seats of BJP alone and 352 seats of the alliance reached. This time, Modi has set a single target of 370 seats for the BJP and 400 seats for the NDA alliance. Modi has given the slogan 'Ab Ki Baar Char Say Par'.

On the eve of the 2014 elections, the then Manmohan Singh government of the Congress was surrounded by corruption cases. Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and Yog Guru Ramdev's dharna demonstration created an anti-government atmosphere. Opposing corruption and dynastic politics, BJP gave the slogan 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'. Later added 'Sabka Biswas' too . It also won the election for BJP.

Senior journalist and political commentator Anand K Sahay interprets BJP's decision to resort to Hindutva to win elections after 10 years of government. In the run-up to the 2019 elections, the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama and then India's 'surgical strike' in Pathankot, Pakistan, brought the electoral climate in favor of the BJP. The 'surgical strike' on Pakistan's soil was used by all BJP leaders from Modi at that time for electoral gains. Modi's speech "Yeh Naya Bharat Hai, Terroristoon Ko Ghar Mein Ghuskar Marenge" lured the voters . At that time, the nationalist slogan became the support of the BJP.

There is no current situation like 2014 and 2019. Sahay, a political analyst, commented that since there was no issue of uniting the voters in an emotional manner like at that time, the BJP has resorted to the low-level issue of inciting "Hindu-Muslims". However, the issue of Hinduism is the main philosophy of the BJP, it connects every issue with Hinduism and brings it to the level of Hindu-Muslim confrontation. This is not a new thing," he said.

India is the most religiously populated country. About 80 percent are Hindus here. Sahay said that the attempts to convince the voters by talking about the development and the beautiful dreams of the future did not give much success, and the BJP started raising its main mantra religious issue in the mouth of the election. "They are trying to spread hatred between two communities to get votes for one party," analyst Sahay told Kantipur The issue of corruption in donations has been raised. On the other hand, the opposition is raising questions on Modi's assurances such as distributing black money to the people and doubling the income of farmers. Apart from that, Congress has taken to the public the issue of rising prices, rising unemployment and declining democratic standards during Modi's 10-year tenure. What happened to the common man in the last 10 years? When such questions started to take place, the BJP was shocked. Duve's analysis is .

On the other hand, it has been seen that Muslim voters have started to adopt a strategy of voting only for strong candidates who can compete with BJP. The BJP understands that the Hindu voters will disperse and the Muslims will gather. For this reason, the Prime Minister himself has started giving rhetoric by raising religious issues to attract Hindu voters to his party. Duve mentioned .

The second phase of the election on Friday

Under the second phase of the Lok Sabha, 88 seats are being voted on Friday . At this stage Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and BJP leader Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Hema Malini, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and other 'heavy weight' leaders are in the election field . Gandhi has contested from Wayanad in Kerala. Last time he won from there .

20 of Kerala, 14 of Karnataka, 13 of Rajasthan, 8/8 seats of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh will be voted on. 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5/5 seats in Bihar and Assam, 3/3 seats in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal are being voted in the second phase. Similarly, voting is going to be held in 1/1 seat of Manipur, Tripura and Jammu-Kashmir. After the second phase, voting will be completed in all regions of Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase, polling was completed in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar, Mizoram, Nagaland, Ponducherry, Sikkim and Lakshadweep. In the second phase, voting is being held in Darjeeling constituencies of West Bengal and Kisanganj constituencies of Bihar, which have a border with Nepal.