Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a Marxist veteran, raised allegations against the Congress party. He claimed that the party and its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), did not display their flags during the event due to fear of the BJP.
Vijayan criticized Rahul Gandhi for his alleged lack of courage to publicly display his party’s flag at Wayanad in Kerala where Rahul is seeking re-election. He argued that the Congress party’s actions suggest that it seeks the votes of the Muslims who account about 25 per cent in Wayanad but fails to acknowledge the importance of the IUML’s flag.
They might say Narendra Modi's rhetoric has achieved one thing. The 'Muslim Factor' is back in public discourse and hence the 'us and they' syndrome is set to work again in favour of BJP.
"This is a strategic plot played out by Narendra Modi....The duality of 'good Muslim' and a 'bad Muslim' is again in the game," says West Bengal-based analyst Ramakanto Shanyal.
"Pakistan is of course India's historical adversity and it was created by radical Muslims.... A large section of Hindus still grudge the moment of Partition and hence a refrain comes up : Hindus are born 'Indians' but Muslims are born to be
'considered foreign subjects' and hence have to prove their loyalty to India".
As it is - Modi is marching ahead in the election campaign and now he has timed the 'Muslim card' vis-a-vis the opposition Congress and hence the same old 'Muslim appeasement' card is back in the reckoning and all this is bound to scare away Hindu voters away from the opposition bloc.
The BJP is confident of sweeping the general elections and has hence
coined the slogan “Ab ki baar, 400 paar” (This time we will cross 400 seats).
In 2019, Modi-led outfit had won 303 of the 543 elected seats in the lower house of parliament.
Five years prior to that in 2014 -- Modi led his party to an unprecedented win riding a strong Hindutva political wave along with anti-corruption mood against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Therefore, it is on expected line that religious polarisation will help the BJP yet again.
The Congress has antagonised Hindus by staying away from Ram temple consecration at Ayodhya on Jan 22, 2024. The event is also seen as a crucial first step towards Hindu renaissance.
In the entire process, the Muslims lament that they are today 'neglected' by design and by default.
Take the instance of Umar Khalid, a student activist. He is today "wronged" by circumstances and the system. He is behind bars as one of the accused for the 2020 anti-CAA Delhi violence.
There are numerous others and yet, Muslim trader like Naushad Khan says in East Delhi --
"No political party including the Congress is raising these issues".
On Congress manifesto, Khan says, "When the opposition party knows they will not come to power, they are promising us moon....These strategies have only galvanised BJP and hardline Hindus against Muslims".
In Assam, observer Ashutosh Talukdar says, "BJP Chief Minister is pushing anti-Christian and anti-Muslim rhetoric repeatedly. People are asking why Rahul Gandhi or other Congess candidates do not use the word Muslim/Musalman while asking for votes.
Why there is an attempt to win Hindu constituents
by raising issues which may even be irrelevant in today's India like caste".
There is a refrain that intellectuals and media would employ a 'politically saturated' diction called Secularism.
But this no longer works, if Modi's majoritarinism is a phenomenon today; it is time to understand that the public mood is enormously in favour of Hindutva-based politics.
"When the Ram temple movement started in 1983 it was like a pipedream. India was wedded to strong secular and even-ultra Left principles. In the Christian-dominated northeast, we never thought a Ram Temple could come up in Ayodhya in our lifetime," says Ashutosh Talukdar.
In the meantime, reports in London-based newspaper 'The Guardian' that the Indian authorities eliminating of at least 20 Pakistanis "inside Pakistan" has also helped to contribute in offering Modi's macho image before his voters.
Neither the Prime Minister Modi nor his Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are on back-foot on the charge.
'The Guardian' even says -- "India appears to confirm extrajudicial killings in Pakistan".
India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says, there is nothing wrong in India retaliating and eliminating terrorists and when they flee and enter Pakistan, "We will enter their and kill them".
PM Modi also said: “Today’s India goes inside enemy territory to strike”.
The publication maintained that Indian intelligence operatives told 'The Guardian' that the alleged shift in policy to targeting terrorists in Pakistan came in 2019, after the Pulwama attack when militants from the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 paramilitary personnel in Kashmir.
Pakistan has taken up with the US on India indulging in such activites. But it continued to be in a denial mode on terrorists enjoying safe haven on its soil. A key BJP leader told UCA News that the killing of these individuals, many of whom were involved in terror attacks in India, only nail Islamabad’s lies that it helped terror elements over the decades.
PM Modi now appears 'unstoppable', and for his part he has nullified anti-incumbency years of a decade as Prime Minister and prior to that 13 years as the chief minister of Gujarat.
This is a rare feat as post-Covid many global leaders have lost elections including Donald Trump.
Modi now says, he will not stop until 2047, the year India celebrates 100 years of its independence.
He will be 97 by then but is he bothered about it when he is able to keep a radical Hindu society as the new century's legacy. A legacy that feels Hindus were wronged by Muslims vis-a-vis the partition.
And the table could be turned now.
ends
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