The campaigns for state assembly elections in five states Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram are fully underway. The leaders of various political parties are to innovatively invent their political narratives for mobilising people in the coming election. The dominant trend of electoral narratives emerging in the sphere of election campaigns of all these states is mostly around promises, beneficiaries, and developmental issues. The caste census and Hindutva have not yet emerged as powerful mobilisation issues in all these campaigns of these state assembly elections.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is well known for doing politics on Hindutva pitch, during elections, has yet to reemphasise this issue in this election campaign. But Congress as the leading claimant of power in most of these states is trying to assert its soft Hindu image which appears in the election speeches of the Congress leaders such as Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh, Bhupesh Baghel in Chhhattisgarh and Ashok Gahlot in Rajasthan. Does it show—over alertness of Congress leaders on the Hindutva issue? Does it show their ”over fear” of the BJP’s politics around Hindutva?
Even though the Ram Janam Bhoomi temple has not yet been inaugurated, most of the regional Congress leaders have started giving their explanations on the Ram Janam Bhoomi temple issue. They are emphasising their natural association with God Rama as being Hindu in their public lectures and interviews. They are also trying to assert their “Hindu-ness” by visiting temples of the Hindu deities and gods during their election campaigns.
Shri Bhupesh Baghel during his tenure as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh tried to do Hindutva symbolic politics by making temples of Seeta and other Hindu deities and organising various celebrations around the memories related to Bhagwan Ram.
The star campaigners of Congress such as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have also visited various Hindu temples and performed puja rituals there during their election campaigns. Their pictures with threads and performing worship rituals for Hindu deities get disseminated to the people through social media, electronic channels, and newspapers. All these performative acts of the Congress leaders show that either they are over-alert on Hindutva issues or show their hidden fear of BJP Hindutva politics.
The “soft Hindutva” is the innovation of mostly secular political parties who do politics of Hindu symbolic performances as a way to respond to BJP’s Hindutva politics. But a question emerges here—can soft Hindutva as a strategy of the Congress and other Opposition parties be an effective strategy to counter the BJP?
The BJP has a long tradition and history of Hindutva politics. They used to speak, launch mass movements and support Hindu causes from the very beginning. It remained a foundational basis of BJP discourse for a long time. Ram Janam Bhoomi movement and the involvement of the BJP in it increased and multiplied its trust capital among the public, especially Hindutva-oriented voters. So, the party’s trust capital is very high among the hearts and minds of a majority of voters in India.
On the other hand, political parties like Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party have not added Hindutva elements to their political image. They mostly assert their secular image. Most of the time, especially on the issue of Ram Janam Bhoomi temple, these non-BJP political parties could not take their clear stand due to the invisible pressure of minority votes in elections. Due to this, the BJP criticised these parties for appeasement politics in order to get minority votes in Indian politics. In fact, Hindutva political texture is the testing ground for BJP politics. They know when, how and what to do to win over the confidence of Hindutva-oriented voters for the party.
A party like Congress which applies a “soft Hindutva” image during elections, may or may not create trust for them among Hindu voters. The building of trust among the public on any issue is a long-term project. The long-term efforts of any political party may create its trust capital slowly. This trust capital of any political party evolved around any issue and agenda may translate in votes at certain amounts during various elections. In fact, the Congress is trying to play a match on the ground prepared by BJP.
In which they may prove a weaker team at least on the issue of Hindutva image politics. However, Congress is trying hard to evolve its trust capital on the Hindutva line in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress leader Digvijay Singh tried many times to project his image as Hindu-secular. But it seems, he could not succeed in mobilising Hindutva inclined voters in his favour. It is very difficult to tell that this soft—Hindutva politics of the Congress is going to add much benefit to the Congress in these coming elections of states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.