25

Jun

Poll Verdict: Is it  Rejection of Hindutva  as political doctrine ?

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Prof Pradeep Mathur

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New Delhi, 25 June 2024

Those who cannot distinguish Hindutav from Hinduism need to first understand the difference between the two terms. Hindutva is the sectarian, obscurantist and a ruthlessly aggressive brand of liberal and tolerant Hindu religion. We can loosely say that  Hindutav  to Sanatan Dharma is what Talibanism is to Islam.

 The practice of Hindutav as a political doctrine  has carried Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP to the top echelons of state power in India. The big question before the 2024  elections was if  Hindutva would help Modi in getting another term?

The question was important for two reasons. First, Hindutva had worked as a magic wand in the hands of Modi, Amit Shah and their cohorts called the Gujarat Lobby, . The other was that whatever claims the Gujarat lobby had been making  about the   economic progress of the country and its big international image , everybody knew that  the BJP would  ultimately bank  on rank communal propaganda to win the elections as it had done in the state assembly elections in Karnataka and other states . Hindutva no doubt has been the party’s most reliable and lethal weapon to win elections.

Article at a Glance

 

The article argues that Hindutva, a sectarian and aggressive brand of Hinduism, has been the BJP's most reliable strategy to win elections. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Hindutva card failed to work despite the BJP's attempts to play on communal sentiments.

 The article suggests that emotions, which are the basis of Hindutva, are not a lasting feature of human mind and can be overcome by rational thinking. Additionally, the hate campaign against minorities has stopped giving electoral dividends to the BJP.

The article concludes that the 2024 poll verdict has made it clear that Hindutva is not an effective weapon and Modi's image is not invincible. The BJP's victories in previous elections were due to divisions in the Opposition ranks, which have now been overcome, and the Congress's failure to put up a determined fight.

Therefore, while assessing the outcome of the recently-concluded Lok  Sabha elections , it is natural to ask if Hindutva is still a viable strategy or it has lost its appeal to the masses. The question is all the more relevant  because  of the shock defeat of the BJP in and around Ayodhya and the considerably reduced margin of the mass mandate for Modi in Varanasi, the epicentre of Hindutav.

After the coming together of 26 plus Opposition parties in a joint front called I.N.D.I.A, the challenge for Modi's BJP was no doubt far tougher as compared to the two previous Lok Sabha elections. Modi knew it, but he still  believed that the masses, the majority Hindus, could  be easily swayed by playing the emotional card based on their faith. And almost all political observers and analysts believed, and rightly so that the BJP leadership would come  out with a new communal card to sway the Hindu masses to win the 2024 elections. And this is what the BJP did.

 However, the Ram Mandir inauguration , perfectly timed to help the BJP, did not work. Taken aback at the non-acceptance of Ram Mandir inauguration by the voters, Modi and senior BJP leaders played many other communal cards as the Election Commission looked the other way.

After Ram mandir , the issue of Idgah mosque in Krishna Janmbhumi , the Uniform Civil Code and  Gyanvyapi Mosque, were raised and   there was the  talk of  construction of a big mandir of Sita Mata at Sitamarhi in Bihar which is believed to be the birthplace of Bhagwan Ram's wife.

It was clear that the BJP was fighting  the  elections on the plank of Hindutva. Modi's blind followers in and outside the BJP were sure that it would work and to support them was the pro- Modi national media and the vocal but politically illiterate, educated  middle and lower middle classes, in urban areas  especially in North India.

Unfortunately for the BJP nothing worked.   

The Modi Bhakts were wrong  because they were  convinced  about Modi's invincibility out of blind faith in him rather than facts.

The fact is that in 2019 as  in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP got only 37.46 and 37.25% of the total votes polled. In view of large-scale discontent against the Modi government, this figure  only came down to 36.56 percentage  in the 2024 elections despite blatant use of communal cards .The hard fact is that BJP got only 37 plus votes out of 80% which Hindus, as per their proportional population must have cast. This means that about 43% of Hindus did not vote for BJP in the 2014 and 2019 elections despite the Hindutva card.

Why BJP’s Hindutav Card did not work in the 2024 elections ?

In fact Hindutva is an election strategy that appeals to emotions. Now there are two problems with this. Emotions can be raised to a high pitch for some time. but  emotions are not a lasting  feature of human mind. Once a person   cools down  will he reverts to rational thinking. In the year 2013, West UP districts saw communal  flare- up leading to large- scale violence between Hindus and Muslims. In the year 2021, the two communities joined hands to protest against the three farm Acts and publicly regretted the fact  of fighting  against each other's eight   years ago.

Despite BJP leaders' continued hate campaign against minorities , many people,  quite a few in the BJP ranks , are now saying that the hate campaign must  stop. Moreover, of late it has stopped giving electoral dividends to BJP as we saw in Karnataka.

The 2024 poll verdict has made it is clear  that the Hindutva card is not an effective weapon.

Nor is Modi  invincible or a giant figure in Indian  politics. It is also not correct to say that the great organisational  strength of  RSS is a winning factor. The fact is that neither Hindutva nor Modi's image  is a magic wand. It was the weakness and confusion in the Opposition ranks that brought Modi to a point where he attained the image of a super hero.  Napolean Bonaparte said that he found the crown of France lying on the ground and picked it up. Likewise Modi got the Prime Ministership on the platter.,

In fact   BJP victories in the two previous elections have been because of deep divisions in the Opposition ranks and the Congress failure to put up a determined fight led by an experienced leader. Then the Opposition parties in the north made strategic mistakes in forging alliances and picking up election campaign issues.

Having realized their mistakes and having suffered  all kinds of humiliation  the Opposition leaders are now a chastened lot. They have sublimated their egos and scaled down their ambitions. The Congress too has now got a chief from outside the Nehru Gandhi clan depriving the BJP of a convenient point to attack its principal Opposition party. And moreover, the 26 parties were  a determined lot with a one-point agenda of ousting the BJP government from power. And they nearly succeeded.

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