The principal argument over the results was whether it was Hindutva or entitlements (free grain and so on) that most voters decided on. There are two things to consider here. The first is on what did the ruling party concentrate?What was the burden of the song sung by its leaders through the campaign and before it, and what have they focused since 2014. Is it entitlements? The answer to that is fairly obvious. The language and the rhetoric of the BJP has been focused on minorities, especially Muslims. The focus of the party’s lawmaking in those states where it is in power has also been the same.Since 2018, seven BJP states, the latest being Haryana, have criminalised interfaith marriage between Hindus and Muslims. In one of the most endogamous parts of the world, where even the wealthiest marry only among their sub-caste, is there an epidemic of what they call love jihad?Of course not; and the government itself says in Parliament that it doesn’t know of any such phenomenon. And yet we have state after BJP state legislating on this. Similarly for beef and cattle transport and on the issue of citizenship and criminalising Muslim divorce.Law after law is being sent down that targets a community. On the other hand, there is the policy: disallowing Muslims from praying, wearing what they want, selling what they want. All of this also recent. And thirdly, the use by the State of the law unjustly on Muslims and keeping them locked up and targeting them relentlessly. It is all of these that have been the focus of the BJP’s governments and leaders and it is where their energies and attentions have been spent.The second thing to consider is whether there was a substantial section of the voting population that disregarded this behaviour of the BJP because they received entitlements. Perhaps this is so and it is a good thing. It means that electoral victory is possible for the ruling party without recourse to damaging other Indians.It also gives the opportunity for the Opposition in the states they run. The issue of free grain (6 kilos of free rice/wheat/dal have been given to 800 million Indians since just after the national lockdown was lifted) must be seen in the light of this fact. Unfortunately, the evidence on the ground is that the entitlements do not vary much by party, whoever is in power, and that the primary problem of the lack of resource means that any delivery is limited.The fundamental question is whether this one party, the only party, that offers Hindutva, has something in its arsenal that the others do not have and do not want to have that gives it the edge. The answer to that is yes.So, what is the solution in a democracy with electoral politics, in a first-past-the-post system, to such a problem as the Opposition has? I do not know and anyone who claims to know is likely to be wrong.This is a deep and complex problem that concerns the core of society and its values, and is unlikely to have a simple answer. And yet, the writing on the wall is clear, India will continue down this path we have been travelling on as a society, as an economy and as a nation, unless there is meaningful pushback to what the BJP is doing to us.
Source link
