-
India Retold: NITISH RETURNS MODI CHEQUE, ASKS FOR MUCH MORE
- "Inclusive" politics is the new mantra that is being liberally used -- pun intended -- to ensure that Congress and like-minded parties can keep capturing power in the Centre as well as in certain demographically vulnerable states. Notwithstanding the secular cloak under which it is being concealed, let no one be in any doubt that this is communal politics which is potentially extremely dangerous and incendiary. Simply put, it seeks to leverage the disproportionate block voting power of Muslims to ensure the defeat of parties whose primary appeal is to the non-existent majority that never has voted as a block in most parts of India and probably never will under normal circumstances.
For now, the appeal is primarily to the insecurities and fears of the Muslim block by projecting BJP as an anti-Muslim party. Crumbs are also being thrown so that other 'secular' claimants don't make a dent that significantly reduces the advantage of the Congress. For now, the demands of the block are not such as to arouse the insecurity of a majority of the majority in a manner that awakens it to the realisation that the power it can command as a block can totally nullify that of the Muslim block. But that will inevitably happen if "inclusive" politics yields rich dividends over a period of time and more 'secular' parties fight over the Muslim pie, increasing its bargaining power enormously. Political dividends as a result of this strategy will come at a steep social price. How steep will that be one cannot say now. But a quick look over the shoulder at what has happened in the last less than hundred years should be enough to make anyone shudder and never wish it, much less cause it, again for the people of India.
- Therefore, if the BJP falls prey to temptation in Bihar, it will mean that it has no answer to the Muslim strategy of the Congress except to play a defensive second fiddle where the arithmetic is challenging. Its capitulation in Bihar will also mean that it has not even thought of a counter strategy that can consolidate a big chunk of the majority vote to nullify the efforts of the Congress, without sounding anti-Muslim. The Congress doesn't utter an anti-Hindu word. It lets the media do that dirty work while it cleverly works to win over Muslims by talking for them, not against Hindus, except those belonging to the Sangh Parivar, a definition that now includes anyone who speaks for Hindus.
-
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
