INDIA bloc stares at BJP’s soft Hindutva blitzkrieg

The beginning of 2024 would be a period worth watching. The BJP which had won all the three elections in the Hindi belt feels that it would help them immensely in Lok Sabha polls. Whether its hopes would come true or the opposition would spring a surprise will be awaited with bated breath hereafter. There will be a scramble to win over the BCs, and finetune their offerings as part of competitive welfarism which would pinch taxpayers’ pockets.

The saffron party has laid the roadmap for its rank and file, not to give scope for any oversight in winning over people of all “four castes”. Its top leadership made it clear that, “Party workers should work on mission mode and work with all “four castes” — the youth, the poor, women, and farmers — in mind. Focus should be laid from state to booth level, they are insisting, goaded as they are by none other than PM Modi.

The BJP is certain to showcase the “Bhavya Ram Mandir” at Ayodhya and will also showcase the transformation of Uttar Pradesh’s famed pilgrimage site Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and the measures it is taking in Mirzapur, Mathura and Bareilly. All these places would be promoted as hubs of religious tourism. It pins hopes on these projects, costing about Rs 2,200 crore, to draw devotees in huge numbers, and finally cause cheer to the BJP during the elections.

After the Kashi Vishwanth temple and the Ram Jamabhoomi corridor at Ayodhya, works on two other projects Banke Bihari corridor in Vrindavan have been speeded up. This project got the nod of Allahabad High Court on November 20 this year. The authorities were directed to remove the encroachments around the temple and government has been asked to construct the temple with its own funds. The UP government claims that this would one of the grandest corridor in the state and that it would be a blend of tradition and modern where the core area of temple will remain undisturbed. It was being designed to accommodate 10,000 devotees at a time and would boost the economy.

Similarly, Vindhyachal Corridor in UP’s Mirzapur is also under construction. It was being built around Vindhyachal Temple. The corridor is being built using pink stones of Ahraura that have been expertly crafted by artisans from Jaipur. All this indicates that the BJP is trying to cash in on the Hindu sentiments.

It remains to be seen if the construction of corridors and the concept of four castes — the youth, the poor, women, and farmers would blunt the opposition demand for caste census. Combination of developmental initiatives along with emotive issues is being used to mobilise public support, analysts claim.

If the opposition wants to really give a tough fight to the BJP-led NDA, it needs to carefully deal with the delicate task of seat-sharing. It should also ensure that the bloc INDIA partners like DMK refrain from making all kinds of weird remarks. Recently the DMK leaders created controversy regarding Sanatana Dharma followed by calling Hindi states as Gau mutra states and the latest comment that migrant workers from Hindi states clean toilets in Tamil Nadu could cause immense damage to the image of bloc INDIA.

First, the alliance must agree on a common platform that transcends a reflexive hostility to the Modi-led BJP. The BJP alliance earned 45% of the vote in the 2019 elections, suggesting that more than half of the country did not support it.

While their common anti-BJP position creates a floor for the opposition, INDIA must also offer an alternative vision for governing that sufficiently distinguishes it from the BJP.