Ideology, Poster Politics & Challenges To The
Status Quo
Home Minister Amit
Shah, at a media house summit recently, said he joined the Bhartiya Janata
Party (BJP) when it had just two seats in 1980-1981. He did so based on his
ideological convictions. His English professor of the time wondered how he had chosen
a political party that involved more or less the task of pasting posters on the
wall.
Today, some forty
years later, his ideological convictions have not changed, even though the
landscape of political power is much altered.
With two successive terms
at the Centre, a substantial majority in the Lok Sabha, and sufficient support
in the Rajya Sabha, even from political parties outside the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA); the BJP has implemented major items on its long-standing to-do
list.
This has put the old
order on the back foot. Having failed to prevail in parliament, they have
decided to take matters to the “people” on the street.
The road ahead under
the BJP, promises to continue with the implementation of several other
outstanding issues such as the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which will put all the
citizens of India on an equal footing with no special provisions for any
minority.
And lately, based on
a substantial pressure on the resources of the country, with over 1.3 billion people,
and its relatively low per capita income - The Population Control Law.
The compilation of
the National Population Register (NPR), already underway in some states, is a
census between other censuses. This is to be followed by the implementation of
the law entitled the National Register of Citizens (NCR). This latter is designed
to identify and remove illegal immigrants from the voter lists, at a minimum.
After the Delhi
elections recently concluded, it is clear that the model for a section of the
broader Opposition, including the much diminished Congress and the victorious
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), now with national ambitions afresh, may change somewhat.
A combination of populist
measures, within a highly publicised “development model” that focuses attention
on basic health, primary and secondary education facilities at government
schools, provision of electricity, water, pollution, street lighting, and other
similar civic necessities may become more widespread.
This is expected to
enthuse the young voter, women who run their households with limited means, and
those who receive the largesse of free items. These sections have voted
strongly for the AAP.
In addition, because
of the monolithic pattern of voting practiced by it, the concerns of the Muslim
community will be given pride of place. This is already the case, most
prominently, in West Bengal, which has a large minority population at some 30% of
the total. Delhi, by contrast today has only 12%. However, this
is a reliable vote bank for both the Trinamool Congress(TMC) in West Bengal,
and the AAP in Delhi.
The AAP has taken some
pointers from the TMC as well as others from the BJP itself. The BJP inspiration
has been reinterpreted as a support to Hinduism as opposed to Hindutva. The effort,
which seems to have worked, was to seize part of the BJP’s thunder as the party
for Hindus.
While people are
naturally free to vote as they please, and indeed peacefully protest whatever laws they don’t like,
it becomes worrisome when they break quite a few laws themselves in the process.
This includes providing
a platform for blatant sedition, squatting on a main arterial road at the
expense of a large number of people, indulging in destruction of public and
private property, arson, violence.
It is also of concern
when that support extends to opposing democratically debated and passed laws in
parliament such as the Citizens’ Amendment Act (CAA).
The anti-CAA
protestors, in Delhi and other parts, simply want the law rolled back. And, apparently,
nothing short of a repeal will satisfy them. This despite the support the law
enjoys from some 70% of the population, according to a recent survey.
The protestors insist
it is discriminatory on the grounds of religion and therefore
anti-constitutional. The Supreme Court (SC), is expected to pronounce on its
validity in the not too distant future, but is unlikely to call for its
abrogation.
It is increasingly
clear that the minority community does not, and will not, vote for the BJP with
the exception of some women grateful for the enactment of the Triple Talaq Act,
and possibly, some Shia. The Shia, along with other smaller sects, are a
minority within the minority.
This divide too is
ideological, because the BJP is seen as the party of the majority Hindu
community. Its stated objective of Sabka
Vikas is not believed. The polarisation, long existent, but now out in the
open, is along religious lines on both sides. The new issue is an apprehension
of challenges to the status quo that has long favoured the minorities.
The BJP is determined
to create a level playing field, and enjoys broad support in this endeavour.
The only people who don’t want this are those who have benefited from the old
order, the partisan interpretation of secularism, and the voting patterns it
has elicited in their favour.
But the electoral
challenge that the recent AAP landslide in Delhi represents may need a strong
economic response to bolster the BJP’s appeal. The Hindu voter may decide against
making a meal of ideology alone going forward.
(886 words)
For: WIONNEWS
February 15th,
2020
Gautam Mukherjee
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