Behind PM Modi’s ‘ek rahenge toh safe rahenge’ poll pitch

The PM’s transportation signalled that successful the look of the Congress’s attacks that it posed a menace to the Constitution and reservation, the BJP was sticking to its task of welding the societal justness authorities of “Mandal” with “Kamandal” that stands for the authorities of constructing a Hindu individuality crossed precocious castes, OBCs, SCs, and STs. In enactment with this strategy, the BJP has besides accused the Opposition enactment of siding with blimpish Muslim elements to divert the OBC, SC, and ST quota pastry to the number community.

In a virtual enactment with BJP volunteers successful Jharkhand connected Monday, Modi sought to nexus the diminution of the Congress with the emergence of SCs, STs and OBCs arsenic agreed blocs. He said erstwhile the Congress was all-powerful aft Independence, radical did not situation to speech astir preservation arsenic the “shahi (royal)” family, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, detested it. As a result, SCs, STs, and OBCs were divided into tiny castes astatine that clip and lacked strength. “Gradually they began to recognize what Babasaheb Ambedkar had been saying and strengthened themselves arsenic SCs and STs. The Congress began to look challenges arsenic a result. When OBCs became agreed astir 1990, the Congress collapsed,” the PM said.

Modi alleged that the Congress hoped to weaken these communities and past snatch distant their reservation. “Aur aap jaante hain ki isliye main lagatar kehta raha hoon ki ek rahenge to harmless rahenge (That is wherefore I person been repeatedly saying that you volition beryllium harmless if you enactment united).”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah connected Saturday said the Congress was looking to springiness the stock of OBCs, SC, and STs successful the preservation pastry to Muslims. Senior BJP person Ravi Shankar Prasad besides made this constituent astatine a property league successful Delhi connected Tuesday, saying, “The BJP is wide that the Congress is conspiring with each the conservative, divisive elements successful the Muslim assemblage for the involvement of votes arsenic they are apprehensive astir their imminent decision … PM Modi says ‘ek rahenge to harmless rahenge’ and they are making amusive of it and knocking connected the doors of the Election Commission.”

Read alongside this authoritative enactment line, the “ek rahenge toh harmless rahenge” transportation comes crossed arsenic 1 aimed astatine Hindu unity, with a peculiar connection for those “Hindu” groups — SCs, STs, and OBCs — the Congress is trying to support connected its broadside utilizing the caste census request and the committedness to breach the 50% quota cap.

Bahujans and BJP

With caste becoming a important governmental class astir 1990, the Congress recovered the crushed slipping beneath its feet arsenic it mislaid its Dalit ballot successful UP.

In 1990, with Mulayam Singh Yadav arsenic Uttar Pradesh CM ordering constabulary firing astatine kar sevaks and Lalu Prasad arsenic Bihar CM arresting L K Advani successful Samastipur during the Ram Rath Yatra, Muslims besides shifted from the Congress successful UP and Bihar towards the socialists, making the erstwhile a marginal unit successful these 2 ample states that person 120 Lok Sabha seats. This permanently deprived the Congress of wide Lok Sabha majorities.

The northbound Indian governmental arena woke up to 2 competing authorities successful the nineties: the BJP, oregon Kamandal, authorities riding connected the Ram temple wave, and the authorities of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party riding the caste wave. Caste began to beryllium seen arsenic a antagonistic to Hindutva, and vice versa.

By this time, the BJP, known successful its earlier Jana Sangh avatar arsenic an municipality Bania-Brahmin party, began to scope retired to OBCs and sections of Dalits arsenic portion of the societal engineering experimentation archetypal led by K N Govindacharya. If a Dalit Kameshwar Chaupal laid the archetypal ceramic of the Ram temple’s foundation-laying ceremony, Kalyan Singh, an OBC Lodh leader; Uma Bharti, different Lodh politician, and Vinay Katiyar emerged arsenic Hindutva faces from among non-Yadav OBCs.

Sushil Modi became the party’s look successful Bihar and the enactment decided to backmost an OBC Kurmi person specified arsenic Janata Dal (United)’s Nitish Kumar arsenic CM. The pursuing decennary saw the emergence of the BJP’s OBC determination satraps: Narendra Modi, a Modh-Ghanchi, successful Gujarat, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an OBC Kirar, successful Madhya Pradesh.

Kamandal was trying to ward disconnected the Mandal situation but its cardinal faces inactive were upper-caste leaders specified arsenic Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, and Arun Jaitley.

With Modi’s ascent successful nationalist politics, the BJP played its cards to the hilt successful UP and Bihar, expanding OBC representation. With sweeps successful the heartland states and enlargement successful the eastbound from 2014 onwards, the BJP achieved a ample measurement of “Hindu unity” — halfway ideological enactment from the precocious castes and fulfilment of demands for greater practice from OBCs, Dalits, and Adivasis — and this inclination continued successful 2019 too. The enactment besides won galore states with the enactment of ample sections of the disadvantaged castes and it reciprocated by expanding ministerial practice for OBCs and Dalit leaders, and choosing a Dalit and past a tribal pistillate for the station of President of India.

The operation seemed unbeatable. But the Opposition pulled disconnected a beardown counter-narrative this twelvemonth erstwhile it interpreted the 400-plus slogan of the BJP and NDA arsenic a veiled effort to alteration the Constitution and extremity preservation with a brute majority. It proved a occurrence and the enactment came down from 303 to 240 seats successful the Lok Sabha. Now, with the “ek rahenge” pitch, the BJP seems to beryllium punching backmost successful earnest to support its task to unify each disadvantaged groups nether the umbrella of Hindutva connected track.