How 'Devendra Fadnavis 2.0' is sharpening BJP's Hindutva edge in poll-bound Maharashtra

Maharashtra Deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. (PTI)

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has a lot on his plate as the state heads into a closely-contested election. Addressing back-to-back rallies and party programmes, Fadnavis, who once served as the Chief Minister of the country’s second most populous state, is on a mission to ensure that the Mahayuti retains power with a comfortable majority.

Once known as the backroom strategist who helped BJP make deep inroads into Maharashtra — a state dominated by regional parties — Fadnavis was relegated to the second spot after the saffron party joined hands with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in 2022 to come back to power. Now, Fadnavis is re-emerging from the shadows and coming into his own as the poll dates draw closer.

‘Vote jihad’ and ‘Love jihad’

Around a month ago, Fadnavis set the cat among the pigeons when he blamed “vote jihad” for the BJP’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The party, Fadnavis said, lost 14 of the 48 seats in the state because “voters of a certain community” united against “candidates representing Hindutva”.

Days later, Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, went on to claim that there were over a lakh cases of “love jihad”—a label for situations where the relationship of a Muslim man with a non-Muslim woman is alleged to be a ploy to convert her to Islam— under investigation in Maharashtra.

Earlier this week, Fadnavis took a swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) over its leader Aaditya Thackeray’s remarks that his party did not need to take lessons on Hindutva from the BJP. "Who am I to teach them Hindutva? Nowadays, Owaisi and the Samajwadi Party are the ones teaching them Hindutva. Now Aditya is learning Hindutva from Abu Azmi," Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis also countered the Congress’ allegation that the BJP practices the politics of “Hindu vote jihad”. "The term 'jihad' doesn’t associate with Hindus who identify with tolerance. If you ask Muslims in the country, they will say they feel safer here than in Pakistan. There is no discrimination against them here in India. If Hindus had ever engaged in the kind of 'vote jihad' we have seen, the face of this country would have been different," Fadnavis said.

What’s behind the Hindutva push?

It was in 2023 that an organisation called the Sakal Hindu Samaj first brought “love jihad” widely into the Maharashtra political lexicon, drawing several charges of hate speech. While BJP leaders officially kept their distance from it, Fadnavis’ statements have now put his stamp on the charges.

That the conversation around the Maharashtra elections is slowly starting to revolve around the remarks by Devendra Fadnavis is no coincidence. There is a method, and a sharply focussed strategy, behind such statements.

Experts view the remarks as an attempt by the BJP to return to the same voter mix that has helped the party come to power at the Centre and in several states – Haryana being the latest example. The idea of rallying support on the basis of religion directly cuts into MVA’s support base that is largely dependent on different caste groups.

The Lok Sabha elections saw the BJP suffer significant losses in Maharashtra — it won only 9 of the 48 seats in the state as compared to 23 in the 2019 polls. Much of this damage was attributed to OBCs and Dalits drifting away from the party.

On the other hand, the party also failed to find the backing of the dominant Maratha community which, under the leadership of activist Jarange Patil, launched an agitation demanding OBC status and the resultant quota benefits.

The protests by OBCs against the proposal to include Marathas is something that the BJP hopes will draw a majority from the community into its fold. The OBCs, who constitute around 44 percent of the population, are fragmented into various sub-groups – Kumbis (14.5%), Malis (7%) Vanjaris (6%), Dhangars (5%) and other OBC groups (11.83%) and the BJP has deputed key leaders from these communities to appeal to these different sub-groups as well.

New Hindutva poster boy?

To put things in context, Fadnavis’ remarks invoking Hindutva need to be seen as a part of the BJP-RSS’ larger strategy of consolidating Hindu votes, that transcends most caste barriers, to counter the combination of the the Muslims (11.5%), Marathas (20%), Dalits (12.79%) and Tribals (6.53%) that MVA counts as its vote bank. The BJP has deputed leaders from these communities to wean away a chunk of this vote bank and hopes that a consolidation of Hindu votes will help it tide over the majority mark.

By repeatedly invoking Hindutva and taking the attack to the Opposition, Fadnavis has not only managed to emerge as the BJP’s new ideological poster boy, but also puts Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, which claims to be the true claimant to firebrand Hindutva leader Bal Thackeray’s legacy, in a bind.

Like the Lok Sabha polls, where the Muslim plus Marathi votes helped it register an impressive tally, the Shiv Sena hopes to ride on the same support base to win the Assembly elections. By pushing it on the backfoot on Hindutva, Fadnavis has pushed the MVA into a corner where taking a position either way would risk one section of voters who helped it outclass the Mahayuti in the general elections.