Moditva vs Rahultva: Race for Hindu mind space

Ancient Indian doctors had mastered the art of using the same venom toxins that cause harm to heal. Today secular politicians are trying to inject a milder form of communalism to detoxify BJP’s hardcore, polarising Hindutva; sort of, neutralising poison with poison. They have started making beelines to temples for electoral manna in the process legitimising communal politics, a paradigm shift – from symbolic Muslim appeasement to open Hindu appeasement with no eyebrows raised. RSS may be happy at the thought of Opposition mainstreaming Hinduism, but it should worry BJP.

In the run-up to the Gujarat elections, the Congress and the BJP utilised religion unashamedly with equal measure of success. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi wooed the Hindus by making as many as 27 temple trips during his campaign, PM Modi played on the fears of the majority community against imagined enemies of Hindus plotting to capture power in Gujarat. And both benefitted.

The BJP snatched victory from near defeat, while the Congress won 18 seats from the 27 places that were part of Rahul’s temple itinerary. Janeyu-dhari (sacred thread wearing Brahmin) Rahul’s “Hinduism” could emerge as an anti-dote to Modituva. Modi demolished the Brahmin network in his party to emerge as a messiah of the numerically strong OBCs. Though Brahmins are not a powerful vote bank, underestimating their clout as opinion makers and influence peddlers is perilous.

Enthused by Rahul’s Gujarat success, other secular leaders like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her Tripura counterpart Manik Sarkar, a text-book Marxist, have also started playing the Hindu card. Rahul’s bid to appease the majority in Gujarat is understandable because it is a state having 89 per cent Hindus, but what about West Bengal with a whopping 27 per cent Muslims? Banerjee is not worried about a possible Muslim backlash because the minority community understand the prevailing political ecosystem. Banerjee’s compulsion to advertise her Hinduism is due primarily to the fear of BJP making rapid inroads into the Hindu mind space.

Ditto the case in Tripura with nearly 85 per cent Hindus. Recently, Mamata Banerjee spent about an hour with chief priest of Kapil Muni ashram, and at her behest, TMC Birbhum president is reportedly planning to organise a rally of over 5,000 Hindu priests in the district in an apparent bid to counter the BJP’s allegations of Muslim appeasement. In the recent Sabang Assembly by-election, BJP emerged a big gainer recording a sharp rise in its vote share from 2.25 per cent in 2014 to 18 per cent.

Last month, Tripura CM has also courted controversy paying a visit to Anukul Thakur Hindu sect shrine at Agartala. A year ago, Kerala CPM sponsored a mass yoga programme giving it a “secular twist” with party insiders, billing the programme a way of fighting “attempts by communal forces to misuse India’s traditional knowledge for ulterior purposes” and “misappropriate ancient knowledge”. Sitaram Yechury (now general secretary) had addressed the valedictory function of the 83rd Sivagiri pilgrimage celebrations conducted by the Sivagiri Mutt, a spiritual centre of the backward caste Ezhava (Hindu) community.

“Marxism does not attack religion per se. Its attack is on the conditions that give rise to the conditions that perpetuate the hold of religion on the people… Therefore, as a Communist, we can assure you that the CPM will be the foremost upholder of every individual’s right to his/her choice of faith and their right to maintain their beliefs and propagate them…”  Yechury said.  In Kerala also, the BJP is plotting to wean away a substantial chunk of Hindu supporters of both CPM and Congress.

The smooth passage of the controversial Triple Talaq bill by Lok Sabha on Tuesday last is also an indication that the secular parties, albeit reluctantly, are in sync with a “Hinduised” India. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who used to pause during his speech whenever Muslim prayers are recited, has done away with the symbolic gesture obviously to please hardcore Hindus of BJP persuasion. On December 26, he continued with his address during the “azaan” without a pause drawing flak from critics.

 Logically speaking, secularists playing the Hindu card should make the RSS happy as it has been trying hard to push its Hindutva agenda since last 70 years. But, it is a complicated matrix. Inveterate casteism acts as a roadblock against pan-Hindu unity. The Dalit uprising witnessed in Gujarat and in Maharashtra recently and the disaffection among other caste groups such as Jats, Gujjars, Patidars, Marathas etc expose the fault-lines within the Hindu society and hierarchical social structure.

If Rahul Gandhi plays his Hindu card to the hilt, the Congress would be like: “BJP without cow”, if one may paraphrase former union minister Arun Shourie’s dig at the saffron party when he said Modi government is like “Congress plus cow”. To allay the fears of Muslims and left-liberal sections, the Gandhi scion clarified that he is a true practitioner of “Hinduism” and not Hindutva, which is divisive. To neutralise the Brahminical overkill, he stitched up caste alliances with Gujarat’s young turks – Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakur representing Patidars, Dalits and OBC. The centrist Congress is better placed to recapture the Hindu mind space. However, it remains to be seen how Rahul micromanages the caste contradictions.

If BJP was slow to grow, it was primarily because of the caste divisions in the Hindu society. It took the party nearly decades to recover from the blow it suffered due to the OBC unrest unleashed by late prime minister V P Singh through backward caste quota. BJP has since managed to blunt lower caste resistance through multi-pronged strategy; co-opting some caste leaders into the NDA and splitting strong caste alliances like in Bihar. Those refused to buckle are embroiled in corruption cases eroding their electoral clout and image. Short-term measures and negative strategies, however, will not work in the long-run; a genuinely inclusive mindset will. And that is BJP’s test.

The author is an independent journalist.