Saffronisation of Indian politics and the rise of right-wing

India is known as the country of heritage and land of diversity. Even after a bloody medieval era, in modern times diverse communities have been living in harmony. But lately, there have been multiple assaults on this harmonious coexistence because of the rise of right-wing politics all across the country. But the question remains, is only one party responsible for the saffronisation of Indian politics? 

The Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party are the only truly national parties with a presence in almost all parts of the country. Lately, with the fall of Congress, Aam Admi Party and Trinamul Congress have been working hard to fill the void and take the spot away from Congress, but presumption does not seem to be coming true in near future, at least not by 2024.

Courtesy: Youth ki Awaaz

Both these national parties, even at their worst, have been successfully getting a huge chunk of around 20% of the total votes. Even today, with only 52 seats in Lok Sabha, Congress had 19.5% of loyal votes on its side. Just to put it in perspective, this number is bigger than any of the other four parties, except BJP, put together. The question pertains, even after this huge chunk, why is INC not able to counter the rise of the right-wing with its, as claimed by the party, secular ideology? The answer is because the Rahul Gandhi led party is playing the game on its opponent’s terms.

Since 2014, a big factor in Narendra Modi’s popularity has been his strongman and personality cult built around him, but that one factor has its own limitations. No matter what the elite English speaking society and hardcore leftists believe, Indian voters are smart voters. They very well understand that Narendra Modi is not going to leave 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to rule some state. BJP’s juggernaut moves on one question, whether religion can unite what caste divided? Congress, along with all other regional parties of UPA need to focus on the contrary, that is, whether caste can divide what religion united. Whichever question gets an affirmative response, the party asking that question will rule the parliament. 

However, political forces seem to be deviating from relevant points. Previous attempts of political leaders, to counter NaMo’s image of a Hindu, were attempts failed even before being put into action. Congress’ or for that matter any UPA member’s Hindutva could never be strong enough to counter BJP’s narrative of the same. With these failed attempts, parties have been losing their original ideological glue which gave them Muslims votes along with votes from their respective castes.

Courtesy: The Wire

Another bullet was shot in its foot by Congress in the 2019 general elections. The party has historically dominated the state of Kerala when it comes to Lok Sabha elections. Kerala’s demography and INC’s alliance with the AIML makes it a stronghold for UDF. It is further ensured by the absence of national personality in the Left front. Despite all these facts Rahul Gandhi, who could have won from any seat in the state, went only to Wayanad. 

The reason for this was underlined by Yashwant Deshmukh of CVoter in an interview with Jyoti Malhotra after West Bengal assembly election. In Bengal polls INC was in alliance with CPI(M) and Indian Secular Front, a Muslim right-wing party led by cleric Furfura Sharif.

Highlighting these two instances Yashwant Deshmukh said “Congress, since 2019, has been projecting itself as a party of Muslims.” He went on saying “you can win any election in India as long as you are a pro-Muslim party but not while being an anti-Hindu party.”

(L-R) CPIM's Suryakanta Mishra, Abbas Siddiqui and Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Courtesy: The Statesman

His comments indicate towards increasing perception among general public that Congress is a party of the Muslims. On the other hand, the party has been losing its hold among the minority community as well, due to its inability to win elections Rahul Gandhi’s wavering stance between a secular leader and ‘janeu dhaari Dattatreya Bhramin’. This has further helped right-wing’s growth, which was prominently depicted in Bihar assembly elections with the rise of AIMIM. 

Net net, follies on the part of opposition and personality cult of BJP, together, have made right-wing a prominent force in the subcontinent, which it seems, is here to stay for a while.