Delhi Elections | Will its polarising pitch help BJP?

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February 3, Monday, was an important day as far as the Delhi elections are concerned. It put to rest the doubt in the minds of many that the communal statements previously made by some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were not aberrations. Recent statements made by BJP leader and Union minister Anurag Thakur, and by West Delhi MP Pravesh Verma, had queered the pitch for what until then was a lacklustre assembly election.

On January 27, Thakur encouraged a crowd at a rally to “shoot the ‘traitors’”, and, a day later, Verma while addressing an election rally, said that protesters would “enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, and kill them”. Both were referring to the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests underway at Shaheen Bagh, in Delhi.

Method to Madness

However, events on February 3 compel one to believe that there is a method to this madness; and that these statements were not mere off-the-cuff remarks, but appear to be part of a larger election strategy.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), on January 30, banned Thakur for three days and Verma for four from campaigning, but, on February 3 the BJP gave Verma a platform in Parliament to criticise the Delhi government. The BJP was well within their rights in doing so, but in the process it has not only cocked a snook at the ECI, but has also condoned the fear mongering and communal polarisation by the MPs.

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That was not all. Union minister Prakash Javadekar referred to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal as a “terrorist”. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP’s star campaigner for Delhi Yogi Adityanath said at a rally at Vikaspuri, in Delhi that “why a Pakistani minister is making statements in support of Arvind Kejriwal? Because he knows that only Kejriwal can feed biryani to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh.” Going by Adityanath’s logic, how would one interpret Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in April 2019 that it was better if Modi came back to power in India?

Fear and Hatred

These statements from various senior BJP leaders, and many others, give an outline of the national party’s election campaign strategy: to instil fear, and even hatred, towards the ‘other’ and thereby prise the communal rifts in society. Some of its video advertisements have a confrontational pitch to its messaging and send out a negative signal. The ECI has also barred an advertisement by the BJP.

The BJP’s campaign messaging seems obsessively focused on Shaheen Bagh, and the hitherto unsubstantiated theories that the protests are orchestrated by the AAP and the Congress. Some see nefarious designs and anti-social, anti-national backing to the sit-in protests that have been continuing for more than 40 days. On February 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally at Karkardooma, in Delhi, said that “[t]hese protests (at Shaheen Bagh, Jamia and Seelampur) are not coincidence, these are manufactured protests. This is an experiment, behind this a political design that wants to divide the nation.”

While the BJP is against the Shaheen Bagh protests and the Congress is supporting the protest, the AAP has evaded clarifying its stand on the issue. As law and order in Delhi comes under the Centre, one wonders what stops the BJP from taking action against the protesters. It seems like if the protests are dissolved now, it would rob the BJP of a campaign issue.

Election Strategies

The ruling AAP is largely focusing on the work it has done in the past five years, the BJP is instilling the fear of the bogeyman, and the Congress is trying to be heard in the hustings.

While the AAP and the BJP have thrown in their dragnets to comb the national capital territory, the Congress has been conspicuous by its absence. For a party that ran a three-term government — which must be credited for playing a crucial role in converting Delhi into the metropolis it is today — the grand old party seems to have already relegated itself to an ‘also-ran’ position.

If the AAP is re-elected, and, say, gets more than 50-55 seats out of the total 70 seats, it would be a rare occasion where a ruling party has campaigned and come back to power highlighting the work it has done in its previous term. Unfortunately, incumbent governments seldom speak about the work done — and rather focus on tall promises of a ‘better, brighter and stronger tomorrow’.

If the BJP were to lose, and badly (say less than 15 seats), it would mean that its shrill polarisation pitch has not delivered the results. It would mean that communal instigations and fear mongering has not tilted the scales in its favour.

With his Karkardooma speech Modi has thrown in his hat in the Delhi assembly election ring. A defeat here will be associated with the Prime Minister’s image — an image which, in May 2019, was at an all-time high after the BJP won a remarkable second term at the Centre; and which has since then taken a beating with the saffron party losing two of the three assembly elections held. Would a setback in Delhi further dull that image?

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