The new secularism must ally itself with progressive Muslims, just as the party has done with Hindus.
Posted Date – 12:45 AM, Mon – 1/9/23
Arun Sinha
Hyderabad: The question at the heart of all debate over the Bharat Jodo Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi, has been: Will it generate a storm powerful enough to unseat Modi from the throne in 2024? As of now, there is no sign of it.
Despite the fact that behind Rahul Gandhi’s angelic sermons, the political purpose of the pilgrimage is hardly hidden. The yatra is Gandhian in form and Rahulesque in content. As a messenger of love, he traveled across the country, but he also missed the opportunity (in his speeches, when asked by the media) to point out that a “foreign body” in the political space was trying to cast its “shadow” onto the so-called On the Indian sun of love.
chariot of idealism
Like Gandhi, he hated evil, not evildoers – he blew kisses to booers on the road; he said he had no ill will towards those who called him “Pappu” (Mr. Innocent); he called spreading hate and oppression The media of the opposition is considered a “friend” – but he also said, “My sense from what I heard and saw during my time in the yatra is that if the opposition unites and fights in a coordinated manner, the BJP will find it in 2024 It’s tough.”
In short, the idealistic chariot that Rahul Gandhi rode during his pilgrimage also carried political cannon to take back India from the “evil” BJP. The question now is how much stronger the army behind him is compared to before the journey.
Congressional staffers enthusiastically joined him during the pilgrimage. A large number of ordinary people also joined him. Leaders and workers of UPA allies also marched with him in states where they have a following and influence. Several well-known professionals also walked miles with him. More citizens who did not take part in the pilgrimage expressed their support on social media.
supporter
It is unclear how much fresh support Rahul Gandhi has brought to Congress and himself. Congress workers, UPA allies and yatra-joined professionals, and liberals expressing their support on social media are against Modi regime anyway. There is no reliable evidence of who the common people who accompanied the yatris at various places were. Are they Modi supporters persuaded by Rahul Gandhi’s mission to join him? Or are they the voters of the Congress Party and other opposition parties who support him anyway?
A major reason for Modi’s astounding success has been the support of a large, politically agnostic “Hindu” electorate. Although they are Hindu by birth, they don’t subscribe to RSS ideology; they don’t support violence in the name of Hinduism; A party of traditions and rituals; but at the same time they privately hold a very negative view of Muslims. In the depths of their unconscious there is a notion – a mindset based on historical prejudice – that Muslims are a dogmatic, bigoted community.
Most of the “Hindus” turned to Modi not mainly because of his Hinduism. They had voted for the Congress-led UPA and were fed up with its economic mismanagement and misgovernance in 2014. Modi, in his image as the architect of the “Gujarat model”, offers an alternative. The main reason they are attracted to Modi is economic. His image as a political leader “who alone can restrain Muslims” is the second reason why he appeals to Muslims. For them, his image as the “Muslim tamer” was the icing on the cake of his image as the creator of “developed Gujarat”. It is not an integral part of the cake.
Is the cake better?
This group of voters may turn away from Modi if someone offers them a better economic pie. They can be made without Hindutva icing. But did Rahul Gandhi serve them a better cake? For all his hajj speeches about rising prices, unemployment and crony capitalism, he did not offer them attractive alternative models of economic development. As the angel of love, the focus of his strikes has always been on the icing on the cake, not the icing on the cake.
Among this pro-Modi, non-Hindu voters are not only upper and lower middle class but also poorer classes. With his own “revadis” megafactory, Modi has shed poorer constituencies that have been under Congress’ control for decades since independence. Rahul Gandhi did not offer other ways of developing and improving lives to win them back.
Worse, even his attack on the icing on the cake for Modi has been misguided. He has tried to distance himself from non-Hindu pro-Modi voters by showing he is a devout Hindu by offering pujas at Hindu temples along the route. He doesn’t seem to realize that they are not leaving Congress because it is not led by devout Hindus. They never raised any questions about the party’s Hindu beliefs. They have a problem with its “pro-Muslim”.
On this point, Congress has not made it clear. Failure after failure, and the BJP’s constant bombardment of its “minority appeasement policy” has left Congress at a loss when it comes to minority issues. It no longer takes hard positions on issues like CAA, Section 370, Hijab, Uniform Civil Code, Gyanvapi, Jihad and Conversion. Non-Hindu voters who support Modi are seeking a transparent, realistic, actionable line from Congress towards Muslims. They will not be fooled by his idealistic sermons on human brotherhood.
Congress needs to redefine secularism. It must offer these voters a secularism quite different from its old secularism – one that does not “pacify” the dogmatic, exclusionary part of Muslims, but aligns itself with the progressive and pragmatic part of Muslims , as the party is as far as the Hindus are concerned. The new secularism itself could undo its damage to Shah Bano and re-attract politically agnostic “Hindus” to it.
