The Congress claims a lot about its so-called commitment to secularism. Perhaps the party leader and mascot Rahul Gandhi has his reasons to take Muslim votes for granted. Perhaps in the given situation Muslims have no much choice other than to vote for Congress; because they would find it difficult to vote for the BJP. But politics being a strange game --- often is a sports of contrasts.
For the residents of Khaskhas Badi in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, reportedly the BJP does not even come to ask for votes in the Muslim locality. At the same time, Muslim voters feel left high and dry by the Congress too.
Says Saud Khan, a mechanic: “Congress MLA ashwasan dete rahe, madad nahin ki (gave assurances, but didn’t help).” The Congress MLA came to Khaskhas Badi recently and went away after delivering a 15-minute election speech, reports 'Indian Express'.
Such experiences have been shared by voters in many other parts of the state. Kamal Nath, who is leading Congress campaign and is likely to be come Chief Minister in the event Congress wins, is pursuing his Soft Hindutva card full steam. An old war horse in his own right and originally a product of Sanjay Gandhi's school of politics; Kamal Nath has ensured one thing for sure --- both the parties, the saffron outfit BJP and his own party, Congress, now engage in displays of competitive religiosity.
But what Kamal Nath has been doing during election season is nothing new. As Chief Minister in 2019, his government took a number of steps those actually betrayed his clear preference/tilt towards Soft Hindutva. In February 2019, Muslims were shocked when the National Security Act (NSA) was slapped against three Muslim youth by the Khandwa collector Vishesh Gadpale. The accused Azam, Nadeem and Shakeel were arrested on charges of 'cow slaughter' from Kharkali village under Morghat police station. This was in February 2019, -- just a few weeks of Kamal Nath in power.
In fact to top it all, Superintendent of police (SP) Siddharth Bahuguna, who recommended slapping the NSA against the youth, later justified the decision on the grounds that exemplary action against the accused was warranted to preempt outbreak of communal tension over alleged cow slaughters in the communally sensitive Khandawa region.
But the politician in Kamal Nath knew what was being done. The meagre 6% Muslim population in Madhya Pradesh is not a major influence in the state’s election arithmetic.
Hence, push soft-Hindutva at the expense of 'secularism' or Sickularism.
Old timers in Madhya Pradesh say the Congress has grown over cautious about playing up the usual pro-Muslim card in Madhya Pradesh especially since 2013-14 as the BJP was able to tighten the grip in state's polity.
The Congress leaders in the state did not condemn even the extra-judicial killing of eight under-trials on the outskirts of Bhopal, hours after their alleged escape from the Bhopal central jail on October 31, 2016.
The 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly goes to the polls on November 17th.
In media interviews earlier this month Kamal Nath said, BJP does not have 'ownership' over the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and it should not be made into a political issue. He also recalled that it was none other than Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister who had opened the door of the then 'disputed structure' for the Shilanyas. This was a truly path breaking move in the history of the Ayodhya movement.
The BJP has of course made the construction of Ram Mandir a poll issue in Madhya Pradesh with posters carrying the tagline ‘Bhavya Ram Mandir ban kar ho raha taiyaar, phir iss baar bhajapa sarkar [The impressive Ram Mandir is getting ready, vote again for BJP government]’. Muslim voters do not know how they should look at things.
Take another example, ahead of by-elections to 27 assembly segments in 2020, the Congress had embarked on a campaign called ‘Shuddh Ke Liye Yuddh’ (War for Purity). The campaign was launched by the MP Congress Committee chief and ex-CM Kamal Nath. It simply meant distribution of Ganga water bottles sourced from holy place Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
There are other areas where Congress policy to woo the electorate is actually guided by following the footsteps of Shivraj Singh Chouhan regime.
The BJP's popular Ladli Behna yojana offers Rs 1,250 per month to women. Now, the Congress has pledged Rs 1,500 to women and a gas cylinder for Rs 500 and a reversal to the Old Pension Scheme.
Among the promises in the leaflets distributed by Congress party in Indore: Every child will get, per month, Rs 500 until Class 5, Rs 1,000 until Class 10, and Rs 1,500 until Class 12. Rs 1,200 per month to the elderly and widows; Rs 2,000 to those with special needs.
Here is another 2018 tale. After 33 years, the Madhya Pradesh Assembly had two Muslim legislators (Dec 2018) -- Arif Aqueel and Arif Masood.
Since 1998, Aqueel has been the lone Muslim MLA in the 230-member legislative Assembly, winning from Bhopal North.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, there were a total of four Muslim candidates. Two women and two men. Congress had given ticket to three Muslim leaders including a women Masarrat Shahid from Sironj seat who failed to win.
BJP only Muslim candidate in 2018 was Fatima Rasool who lost to Aqueel by a margin of 35,000 votes.
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