BJP vs Congress

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first phase of the grand Kashi Vishwanath corridor project to chants of “Har Har Mahadev” in his constituency of Varanasi in poll-bound UP. In his speech, he drew a link between sanskriti (culture) and samarthya (might), vikas (development) and virasat (heritage). He sought to fold into the idea of the mandir (temple) the resolve of swachhta (cleanliness), srijan (creativity) and aatma nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). A day earlier, speaking in Jaipur in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi drew an opposition between “Hindus” and “Hindutva vadis” – the latter, he said, sought power, not truth, followed the path of “sattagraha”, not “satyagraha”, and would do anything to win. These two speeches, one following the other, are not unrelated. Together, they help frame the contours of the political contest in the current moment. The confrontation is with a BJP that has deftly and determinedly shifted the political centre of gravity to the right and brought the idea of the public to a point where it encompasses the images of a prime minister performing Hindu rituals and prayers, in Ayodhya last August and in Kashi this December. In a multi-religious country whose constitution declares it secular, his every move in on the spotlight. Countering this fundamental and consequential shift, is the Congress that is still struggling to find the voice to meet the BJP’s multi-layered challenge. The Kashi-Vishwanath corridor project is admirable in its scale and in the apparent efficiency of its implementation – it was arguably much needed for a better pilgrimage experience for the faithful and others who flock to the ancient city on the banks of the Ganga, with Shiva its presiding deity. And yet the visual and spectacle that has accompanied its inauguration, the leading role of the PM, with BJP chief ministers in attendance, in the run-up to the UP election, also proclaims the remarkable success of a political project, led by one man.

To combat and challenge this, the Opposition party, be it the Congress or any other non-BJP force, will have to find the language and the aggregation that can match the BJP’s agility and multi-vocality and also the resources with which the party in power shores up its communicative dominance. By refreshing Hindutva with the muscle of power and project,
redefining it in terms of nationalism and self-respect, the BJP is throwing down the challenge purposefully. It needs to be picked up by the other side, to make a political fight of it, that goes beyond slogans at a rally.

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