Amit Kushari IAS
BJP has fully conquered the Hindia belt of India. By Hindia I mean the following states/ regions of India — Himachal, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Jammu, Ladakh, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and Karnataka. In this area people can speak and understand Hindi reasonably well and the people are also overwhelmingly Hindu. This is an easy terrain for BJP. The real tough terrains are Kashmir, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Bengal, Orissa,Assam and other north eastern states. Andhra Pradesh and Telengana are not very tough for BJP because there are allies to help them out. A really tough terrain is the valley of Kashmir where BJP will face elections shortly. In Kashmir the only saving grace for BJP is the fact that people can somehow speak and understand Hindi, rather the Persianised form of Hindi, which is Urdu.Apart from development, the main ideological plank of BJP lies embedded in the ancient heritage and past of India, which they call “cultural nationalism”. The ancient scriptures of India like the Vedas, Upanishads, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, the Sanskrit literature of Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and others form the basic pillars of BJP’s ideology. It is here that the non Hindus find themselves in an uncomfortable position because they cannot identify themselves with the ancient glorious past of India. This is also the main dissimilarity between Pakistan and India. In Pakistan history books start from the year 1100 AD, when Islam arrived in Sindh from Arabia. In India history starts from 5000 BC, from Mohenjodaro and Harappan civilizations, from the birth of the vedas and Upanishads. Kashmir had very direct links with ancient India, but with the coming of Islam in the 14th and 15th century these links were snapped. Kashmiris forgot that they speak a highly Sanskritic language because many Persian and Arabic words were imported. The whole of Kashmir was known as ‘Satisar’, meaning ‘The Lake of Goddess Durga’. The famous poet, Kalhan, had written Rajtarangini in Kashmir, Shaivism was the principal religion of all Kashmiris. But all that is past and forgotten. Islam and Hinduism have undoubtedly many basic similarities of thought but there are too many glaring dissimilarities also. Spiritual Hinduism believes in one and only one God. The Upanishads say,”God is one and without a second (ekam advitiyam)”. This is exactly the same as,”La ilaha illallah”. Islam prohibits idolatry and hagiolatry. Popular Hinduism is highly idolatrous. Idols of Gods and Goddesses are worshipped with great pomp and grandeur with the blowing of conch shells and the beating of drums. Devotional music and dancing in temples is a part of Hinduism. All that is banned in Islam. Muslims do not feel like bowing their heads before Mother India. The RSS and BJP visualise Mother India as a Goddess riding on a tiger, carrying a trishul, resembling Goddess Durga. India’s national song, ‘Vande Mataram’, says ” Mother India I bow before you, I worship you.” Many Muslims have a problem with this. A Kashmiri Muslim once told me,”Hum apna sir katwa dengey, magar Vande Mataram nahi gaayengey.”
It is in this hostile, tough terrain that BJP has to navigate its ship now to win over the 46 assembly seats that from the Kashmir valley. Abrogation of Article 370 has been muted down in the state manifesto although it is an essential part of the national manifesto. This is a major irritant for the Kashmiri Muslims.The BJP candidate of Amira Kadal constituency in Srinagar has gone to the extent of saying that she would pick up guns if article 370 is abrogated. BJP is trying to cosy up to Sajjad Lone, an ex separatist. Indirectly BJP is acknowledging that separatists do control a major portion of the political space in the Kashmir valley. The Congress is also trying its best to find fault with BJP. When a poster of Hizbul- mujahideen urged the people to boycott polls, a tall leader of the Congress said,” This poster could have been issued by the BJP because less voting means greater chances of BJP victory”. Laughable indeed!! However much BJP may try to win in Kashmir valley it seems very improbable to me that they can make any real headway. I will be surprised if they can win 2 or 3 seats in Kashmir. In Jammu and Ladakh they are likely to do extremely well and could win around 25 seats. They can hope to come to power through PDP if they score 35 or less. If PDP scores more than 35, they may form the government on their own, ignoring BJP — although it will be unwise of them to ignore BJP and be on the wrong side of Delhi.
Another difficult terrain which BJP is desperately navigating and negotiating is Bengal, where elections are due in the near future. Bengal is 73% Hindu and 27% Muslim. BJP is trying its best to win over the Muslims. Many Muslims are joining BJP to save themselves from the goons of Trinamool Congress, because CPI-M is almost defunct now and cannot protect the Muslims. We hear that Muslims of Birbhum district and many areas of North Bengal are joining BJP in very large numbers. The Hindus are also leaving Trinamool Congress and CPIM in very large numbers to take shelter with BJP. Although Bengal is the birth place of great saints like Ram Krishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ancient Hinduism did not exist in Bengal. Hinduism came to Bengal around 800 years ago only. There is no mention of Bengal in Ramayan and Mahabharat, although adjoining areas like Orissa, Assam,Manipur and even Nagaland do find a mention. Kamrup and Kamakhya of Assam and Kalinga of Orissa do find a mention, but Bengal was known as ‘Pandav varjit desh’, meaning an area avoided by the Pandavas. Arjun had married the princess of Manipur, Chitrangada and that is how Manipur became a part of ancient India. Arjun had married the princess of Nagaland, the beautiful U lu pi and had annexed Nagaland. But Bengal was never a part of Hindu India in those ancient times. It joined the Hindu society much later. BJP is making great inroads into the Hindu population of Bengal and by next year BJP may win over Bengal partially, at least.
Kerala will be a very difficult area for BJP. Not only does it speak a non Sanskritic language, 50% of its population is non Hindu. Bengal at least speaks a highly Sanskritic language which Kerala does not. The CPI -M is not a defunct force in Kerala. It will indeed be very interesting to follow the elections in Kashmir, Bengal, Kerala and Assam– to see how BJP fares in these tough territories. It is a tough challenge for Narendra Modi.
(The author is former Financial Commissioner. Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel