By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is by and large seen to have significantly strengthened his political clout. However, the way the similar controversies surrounding Mathura and Kashi were raised thereafter by the RSS-VHP-BJP clan is indicative of their doubt that they could not generate enough passion to win the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election 2024.In place of unity among Hindus, the organisers found them divided, many criticizing them for reducing the religious occasion to mere politics, many abstained from the celebrations, and many celebrated the occasion separately.
Here lies the contradiction for the foregone conclusion by some that BJP led by its leader PM Narendra Modi has already won for the third time. Such conclusions are based on presumption that Hindus are very happy with PM Modi over the Temple inauguration which was just not the ground reality. It is still very difficult to quantify how much the BJP can reverse its declining trend that set-in motion just after the Lok Sabah Election 2019 results were out, and which continued election after election in every state from where the party had won parliamentary seats. Decline in their share of votes ranged from just about 2.84 per cent in Assam to 21.53 per cent in Haryana. Sole exception was Manipur, where BJP’s share of votes rose by 3.61 per cent in the state election compared to the Lok Sabha election 2019. However, the last 9 months of violence in Manipur has antagonized several sections of people in the entire northeast against the BJP in general and PM Narendra Modi in particular for failure of his government in stopping the violence.
The answer to the question as to why PM Narendra Modi urgently organized the Ram Temple inauguration can be partially answered by the declining votes share trend that has threatened his and his party’s political prospect in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election 2024, which they sought to reverse by whipping polarization of Hindu votes again in their favour. However, the inauguration indicated only limited success and that may not finally lead BJP to victory.
It is in this backdrop, RSS-VHP-BJP clan will try to further whip up communal passion to polarize Hindu votes in their favour through disputes like Mathura and Kashi, which will pose additional challenge to the opposition INDIA alliance partners and other regional political parties. They will need to expose the BJP’s design and come out with a compelling narrative that only secularism may bring them peace and ease of living with enough employment and earning. What will the people get if there will be only communal strife? The INDIA alliance must come up with details in answering this question.
BJP’s strategy so far was to put the opposition by the side of a double edged sword which cuts on both sides. That is why taking stand either in support of Ram Temple inauguration or in opposition, both was to hurt the opposition. However, the opposition has also resorted to innovative ideas of their own – TMC leader Mamata came out with her own programme to worship the Goddess Kali and thereafter participated in all faith rally. In Delhi, AAP rank and file organized religious congregation of their own. In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) did the same. There were numerous examples across the country where Hindus of other political parties assembled for their own events. Even the political parties which felt the Hindu communal heat generated by the Ram Temple inauguration event, though they were politically supporting the BJP, such as BJD in Odisha, organized its own events for Jagannath ji. Many Congress leaders too organized their own events in which large number of non-BJP Hindus participated.
The entire scenario indicates that the political situation has not turned entirely in favour of the BJP or PM Narendra Modi. It must embolden the INDIA alliance parties, and they must come forward with their own programme against the BJP’s narrative of Ram Rajya that they claimed have come with coming of Ram in Ayodhya, a falsehood played on the people, since Ram Lalla had never left Ayodhya and hence there was no question of HIS coming.
Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi has created panic among Assam BJP rank and file in general and the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in particular is or else why it would have been attacked by stick wielding miscreants, or why should there be FIR against him, or even stopping the Yatra by state government to reach certain religious places? The Yatra and the Temple rituals were started almost at the same time. Had the temple inauguration created enough support for the BJP, its Assam government and the party workers would have not even noticed the Yatra led by Rahul.
People’s support for opposition’s programmes across the country shows the way to the opposition INDIA block that they have no time to waste now. They must come to settle the seat sharing arrangement as soon as possible forgetting their minor differences to take on PM Narendra Modi and the BJP. They must not forget that BJP’s votes share has already declined to such a level that even a minor increase in opposition’s vote share will topple the Modi government in the very forthcoming Lok Sabha election. Failure in offering united opposition to BJP’s candidate in most of the constituencies would enable PM Narendra Modi to considerably reverse their declining vote share through whipping up Hindu communal passion and subsequently win. It is not too late for INDIA block. (IPA Service)
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