Votes Polarized in India!

Bhubaneswar: (Ajoy Kumar Misra) In the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections the BJP outwitted the Congress and other opposition parties despite a strong anti-incumbency wind in the State. The ‘Jawan, Kissan, Pehalwan and Sambidhan’ slogan of the Congress and other parties drew no response from the electorate. The Congress has been trying its best to get a caste census done in the country and the voters in Haryana have apparently rejected the idea. Castes and sub-castes prevail in the Hindu religion. There are no castes among Muslim, Christians, Buddhists, Jains or any other religion. Hence the protagonists of Hindutwa termed this demand of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as an effort to divide the Hindus on lines of castes and sub-castes—Brahmins, Thakurs, Yadavs and Dalits etc. Hence the BJP used the opportunity to turn the table on the Congress and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Batenge to Katenge’ slogan appears to have caught on. Of course the slogan by Yogi Adityanath was coined in the aftermath of the developments in Bangladesh. But this has been taken up by Hindutwa protagonists.

Soon after Adityanath’s crude coining of the slogan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the same thing but in a very suave manner. According to him if Hindus get divided on caste lines, there were vested interests who would derive a millage. Soon after, Rashtriya Swayam Sangh Sar Sangh Sanchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat also reiterated the feeling urging the Hindus to remain united taking a leaf out from pages of history when foreign invaders intruded into Bharat taking the help of Hindu rulers in the country.

History has it on record that Moghul invaders intruded into India taking the help of Hindu rulers of the sensitive border states. It is because they were neither united nor were concerned about the safety of their neighbours—sometimes due to personal rivalries and most of the times indifference towards fellow rulers. Bhagwat exhorted everyone to keep these things in mind which he said was relevant in the progress and prosperity of any country. Though disturbing, this trend is being witnessed from 2014 when BJP wrested power from the Congress-led UPA.