The long list of welfare programs implemented by the BRS government for the disadvantaged and minorities acted as a shield and the BJP could not break it.
Posted Date – Sun, 09 Apr 23 at 04:34pm
Hyderabad: With more than a year to go before the 2024 general election, the BJP, which relied largely on the polarization of the Hindus vote to win, appears to be slowing down its Hindutva agenda and talking loudly about Christianity and Muslims. In a clear sign that this is the third consecutive power grab toward appeasement politics, the BJP leadership, which often accuses the opposition of appeasement, is preparing for a larger-scale appeasement.
Interestingly, when BJP started to deal with minority issues, regional parties like Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (U) the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Aam Aadmi Party were already celebrating Hanuman Jayanti and other major Hindu festivals. In fact, Mamata Banerjee, who sees “Jai Sree Ram” as a political slogan, recently visited the Hare Krishna temple.
BJP has been working on the agenda of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ since 2014 but even now gaining the support of Muslims is still an elusive goal that’s why it is open to them and seeking them in the upcoming year 2024 support for parliamentary elections. At the party’s national executive meeting earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi specifically mentioned that even if ethnic communities do not vote for them, the party must reach out to them and explain its policies and views.
Even in Telangana, where parliamentary elections are being held this year, the Saffron Party realizes this will be a tricky issue because the ruling BRS has a strong presence at all levels of society, especially Dalits, tribes and minorities, so it plans to launch a minority-focused program to connect with minority voters, especially Muslims, at the state’s grassroots level. However, the long list of welfare programs implemented by the BRS government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has served as a shield for the disadvantaged and minorities, and the BJP has been unable to break it. Although the saffron party raised the issue of corruption, it didn’t help much because people were more interested in the developments that the BRS government was doing.
AIMIM’s strong presence in Hyderabad and its support for the ruling BRS in other parts of the state are also making the BJP’s job difficult. On top of that, a Congress with a large following and supporters in minority communities, especially Muslims, is likely to prevent the growth of the saffron party.
The BJP, which won just one seat in the 2018 Telangana Assembly polls, has struggled to gain the confidence of the people of Telangana and tried to play the Hindu card, but as the party leadership shifted from its agenda and prepared to With the minority-centered strategy, it becomes difficult for the party-state leadership to connect with the masses.
Meanwhile, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s approach in the Gyanvapi case and asking “why one shivling is being sought in every mosque” was also seen as a departure from its Hindutva agenda. Even the UAE business summit in Kashmir was seen as a BJP tactic to win over minorities.
