Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose political war cry for voter mobilization was development in 2014 and even in 2019 general elections, has now completely restricted himself to Hindutva brand of politics based on cultural and religious identity of the majority community, leaving no space for any minority community in his plan of things.
It was expected that when he returns from his trip to the United States of America where he boldly declared that democracy runs in the veins of every Indian and there is no question of discrimination against any religious minority or cultural group, he would be more sensible and reasonably wise man. He made the comments while responding to a question by Sabrina Siddiqui, a journalist of the Wall Street Journal, at a press conference at the White House.
But there was a dramatic turn of event when he addressed his first public meeting at Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal after landing in India. The assembly elections in MP are due before November this year. While addressing the audience, instead of talking about development issues, inflation that has touched its nadir, extreme level of unemployment, declining economy and serious law and order problems in the border state of Manipur arising out of the mishandling of the clash of interest between Hindu Meities and Christian Kukis, he raised the issue of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as if UCC is responsible for all the ills plaguing India. And all the problems will be solved in one stroke if a common civil code is implemented for all the communities.
But why did the PM choose to speak about it? Political analysts say that there is a feeling in the BJP and RSS that a considerable segment of BJP voters, who do not subscribe to the ultra-conservative views of the RSS and BJP but supported the BJP and PM Modi because of promises on development issues and stamping out the corruption from administration that was prevalent during the Congress days, have lost trust in the leadership of Modi and BJP. They are the fringe voters who are not diehard supporters of any political party but decide their stand based on the policy and programmes of the parties. It is this segment which is reported to have lost trust and withdrawing its support to the saffron party. This factor was particularly responsible for BJP’s defeat in assembly elections in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, apart from the prestigious municipal elections in Delhi. To a large extent, it would not be wrong to say that the Hindutva euphoria is slowly dissipating. This is also substantiated by a recent editorial in the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, that said that PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are no longer vote-catcher. The edit said that Hindutva is not only mobilization of voters based on Hindu cultural and religious identity but it is coupled with growth and development at the national and state levels. The edit candidly admitted that the lack of development on the part of the BJP government in states and at the Centre was responsible for defeat of the party in Karnataka.
As neither the BJP state government in Madhya Pradesh nor at the Centre have any development accomplishment to present before the people, PM Modi had no other option than to use the divisive issue to keep his political flocks together and forcefully talked about the UCC despite the fact that the matter is under consideration before the Law Commission of India. Morally, he should have kept silent on this controversial issue and allowed the Law Commission to take proper procedural and legal course on it but he could not restrain himself because he perhaps felt that the UCC having the potential to divide the communities on religious lines may mobilise the majority community voters in his party’s favour in the forthcoming MP assembly elections. While it is difficult to say if PM’s open canvassing in support of the UCC will influence the decision makers in the Law Commission, this possibility at the same time cannot be ruled out. In his characteristic style, he accused the Opposition parties of misguiding the Muslim community on the UCC issue as if the Muslim community has no brain of its own to determine what is good or bad for them. But the truth is just the reverse. In his Bhopal speech, PM himself was misguiding the Muslim community on the UCC issue. This was simply intended to erect a political wall between Hindus and Muslims, the last weapon in BJP’s armoury which is staring defeat in the 2024 Parliamentary elections because of its Hindu-voter base slowly slipping from under its feet. BJP feels that the UCC could be a rallying point for Hindus in favour of BJP when the PM’s appeal is opposed by Muslims who are deadly opposed to the UCC because Muslims do not want interference in their personal laws. But the trick seems to be failing because Muslims appear to have become wiser over the years as they understood the game behind it and kept themselves in low profile while other groups like indigenous(tribal) communities, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities from all over the country have led the banner of opposition to the UCC and unequivocally denounced the PM’s speech on the UCC. The PM and BJP need to give up their stereotype image of the Muslims. The Muslim leadership is no longer in the hands of the people coming from ‘madrasas'(Muslim religious seminaries) background. University and college educated Muslims have taken over the leadership role for the last few decades. Even in All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB), the majority of the members are those who are university and college products and they are difficult nut to crack.
Excepting Aam Aadmi Party (considered to have been floated by the RSS for achieving its aim of Congress-mukt India) and Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati, all political parties have opposed the UCC, saying the law is not needed at all. Among the parties that have registered their strong opposition include Shrimani Akali Dal(Badal), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal(united), Samajwadi Party, Congress and Janata Dal(Secular) etc. Even Parsis, who generally remain muted on controversial issues, have registered their opposition to the UCC. SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, a Lok Sabha member, has declared that his party would strongly oppose the UCC in Parliament when the monsoon session commences on July 20. All of them say that the UCC is an assault on the cultural diversity of India. Leaders of all political parties have criticized PM’s provocative statement in which he said that there could not be two laws in a country: one set of laws for one community and the rest for others. This is interpreted as government’s bid to curb religious freedom because all religions have their own personal laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, succession and inheritance. They don’t want any intrusion in it and hence, strong opposition is building up against it.
As Modi’s US visit considerably dented his image of an emerging global leader of the world’s biggest democracy because of uncomfortable questions to him by journalists in the White House and the US government’s open support to the Wall Street Journal reporter and strong condemnation of the insulting and offensive internet messages to the women reporter by Overseas BJP’s army, his reference to the UCC when the 2024 General Elections are round the corner seems to be backfiring as it has stirred up all the minorities who are strongly criticising the BJP government’s move. The Opposition parties’ allegations of corruption against the Modi government in signing an agreement to purchase US drones appears to have damaged his image considerably. Opposition parties allege that India is paying 10 times of the price what the UK paid to buy the same drones. BJP and their leaders have always accused the Congress and other opposition party leaders of indulging into corruption and pocketing public money and themselves claimed a high moral ground as far as corruption issues are concerned.
As BJP’s development slogan has failed and the shine of political Hindutva to appease the majority community politically is fading, will the UCC, considered to be a potent weapon in the armoury of BJP, deliver the victory to the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? Only the time will tell.
