Was it a Hindu rebuff?

Election setback is a message from Hindus to BJP 

Alok Tiwari

The chastening of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the just concluded general elections is important in many ways. Yes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back in the saddle for a third time in succession and to that extent is entitled to feel a fleeting equivalence with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, something he has long desired. Yet, his government this time feels more like a consolation prize and not the gold medal he had aimed for. Modi supporters—I hate to call them even BJP supporters—would of course like to sugar coat it in many ways. Modi himself was at pains to point out that Congress’s tally of last three elections could not equal the even the reduced number of BJP seats of this time alone. But the sheer amount of sugar-coating effort being undertaken shows that any which way you look at it, it is a bitter pill. What is really of significance is that this pill has been delivered to Modi and the BJP by the Hindus.

Just look at the amount of hate being spewed online by the die-hard Modi fans on voters of Uttar Pradesh in general and Faizabad constituency that had Ayodhya in particular. The ire is directed at Hindus for this alleged betrayal. The construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya was projected as something of a civilizational turning point in Hindu revival. We were told that a wrong has been righted after 500 years unerringly pointing to the Mughal period that the Hindu radicals have always portrayed as some sort of dark age. The ceremony itself felt more like coronation of Modi than consecration of temple.

The triumphalism of the time made it appear as if the 2024 elections was already in Modi bag. Hence the call of ‘400 paar’. Analysts were already dreaming of transformative steps like Uniform Civil Code that Modi government will undertake when it returns to power riding the temple wave. Some even talked of retaking the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. All that seems distant dream now.

Hindus, at least a substantial chunk of them, had other ideas. It must have particularly rankled that Ram temple was completely missing as an election issue right from the word go. This must have come as a huge surprise to many. However, it was just Hindus asserting their civilizational trait that has helped them see off many invasions, occupations, and tyrants. An average Hindu might have felt good about temple being built. But she was not ready to set aside more bread-and-butter issues of the day because of that.

It is important that this decisive shift occurred in the so-called cow-belt that BJP-RSS had used over the years as laboratory of their Hindu-first project. BJP may point out that its vote share has hardly declined despite significant loss of seats. That is true. But it is worth remembering that loss of vote share in UP, Rajasthan, Haryana is masked by the rise in places like Odisha and southern states which was more because local anti-incumbency than any major Hindutva push. Indeed, in Odisha it was clearly an anti-BJD vote while in Andhra Pradesh BJP ally TDP went flat out to woo Muslims with a string of promises that BJP at any other time would condemn as appeasement.

Modi and BJP may have an idea that their base was not as excited as before when the voting percentage dropped in the first phase. This led the Prime Minister to bring in the ‘ghuspaithiye’ and mangalsutra rhetoric based on a speech made by his predecessor more than a decade ago. Many observers had pointed to the amping up of anti-Muslim rhetoric by the Prime Minister after the first two phases of elections as a response to the feeling of ground slipping away. This was a direct effort to recharge his base and get people to vote more on communal lines.

That even this did not bring in the desired result cements the conclusion that it was out and out a Hindu rebuff. The Muslims were in any case not going to vote for BJP. The party’s entire gameplan is based on consolidation of Hindu vote bank. It had over the last two elections succeeded in garnering a sizeable chunk of that. Of course, in 2014, it was not so obvious. But when the BJP increased its tally and swept the entire cow-belt in 2019 it felt as if the Hindutva push was beginning to affect the grassroots. The party seemed unapologetic while adopting an in-your-face Hindutva stance. Recall the Art 370 move, early release and felicitation of Bilkis Bano rapist-killers, the overt religious colour of new Parliament building inauguration, the high-volume support to all this visible in social media. This hubris extended to hounding opponents using state agencies, breaking up parties, and throttling the media.

All this offended the basic sensibility of an average Hindu. In a way, this vote is Hindus setting limits to Hindutva, which is a toxic, aggressive ideology in the name of an ancient, tolerant, and inclusive religion. The last 10 years have spawned a section of radicals who not only justify but gloat over excesses of Hindutva brigade.  It is gratifying to note that a bulk of Hindus still recoil from it. The sheer gracelessness shown by these radicals has been off putting to many who might have earlier got carried away by the minority appeasement rhetoric of BJP. They may not like appeasement of any sort, but they do not also excuse gloating and dancing over graves of opponents. Be gracious in defeat and humble in victory is their message. They have not given up their innate sense of justice and fair play.  It is this ability to embrace, incorporate, and include that has helped Hindus overcome many challenges over centuries that might have obliterated a lesser community. This time they seem to have put a lid on a challenge from within that sought to fundamentally alter them.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Jun 12, 2024