Giving Hindutva hardliners a free rein lands BJP in a fix in Rajasthan

In Rajasthan, the ruling BJP has been facing grim questions over its commitment to Dalits in the week prior to Ambedkar Jayanti.

B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary is invariably a day to savour the legacy of the Dalit icon widely considered the architect of India’s Constitution. But in Rajasthan, the ruling BJP has little to celebrate as it was facing grim questions over its commitment to Dalits in the week prior to Ambedkar Jayanti. Ever since senior BJP leader Gyan Dev Ahuja provoked public outrage by “purifying” a Ram temple in Alwar after a Dalit Congress leader Tikaram Jully participated in its consecration ceremony, the Saffron brigade has been sucked into a political whirlpool.

Once the video of Ahuja’s ‘purification’ went viral on social media, showing the former BJP MLA spraying holy Ganga water in the temple premises, public indignation mounted rapidly last Monday. Justifying his actions on the plea that ‘cleansing the space’ was necessary as ‘some impure people’ had entered the temple, Ahuja’s move sparked public anger and reignited the debate about caste-based discrimination and untouchability.

Protests lead to a show cause notice

The first Dalit to be Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Jully claims Ahuja’s action reflects BJP’s ‘real’ mentality and argued “the BJP is purifying the temple due to my Dalit identity. It is an attack on my faith that also encourages the crime of untouchability.”

While Dalit groups slammed Ahuja’s antics, the Congress held demonstrations across the state and burnt effigies of BJP leaders.

With protests escalating on Social Media and on the ground, the BJP soon suspended Ahuja and sent him a show cause notice for “tarnishing the image of the party.” The notice reminded Ahuja about his pledge while becoming a BJP member which asks all partymen to shun “untouchability in any form” and eschew “any kind of discrimination.” In an obvious damage-control bid, the notice even mentioned that the “first stone in the foundation laying ceremony for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was laid by Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit.”

Double standards when it comes to Ahuja’s conduct

The party’s swift action and threat of tougher steps are in marked contrast with the laxity that BJP had earlier shown towards the RSS-backed Ahuja despite his well-documented record of making incendiary remarks.

Ahuja betrays little concern about the need for political propriety or communal amity and his crude remarks are a repetitive feature of Rajasthan’s political landscape. Given his deep RSS links, Ahuja has a Hindutva hardliner image and backs it up with unvarnished bigotry in the sensitive Mewat region that’s become the epicentre of cow vigilantism over the past decade.

From being booked for inflammatory speeches in Alwar in 2021 to defending mob lynching of alleged cow smugglers and backing cow vigilantism, Ahuja has even been caught on video boasting about killing of individuals accused of cow slaughter and stating, "We have so far killed five people...I have given a free hand to workers to kill."

Also, through his claims about Jawaharlal Nehru not being a Pandit as he consumed beef to his claims that JNU students engage in "sex orgies," Ahuja has consistently lowered the level of political discourse. His penchant for sensational, unsubstantiated claims have made him one of the most polarizing figures in Rajasthan.

The BJP's failure to act on Ahuja's communal rhetoric in the past is in sharp contrast to its prompt action now. Political circles are buzzing overtime that the disparity in treatment reflects a basic BJP contradiction – while communal rhetoric is overlooked as it often gets political/electoral gains, casteist slurs and notions of ritual purity are frowned upon as they could alienate Dalit voters and lead to serious electoral consequences.

Opposition won’t let go of the opportunity

Despite the BJP’s bid to disassociate itself from Ahuja’s antics and keep a lid on this row, the controversy has continued to simmer and sharpen. Locally, Dalit groups and opposition parties have continued protesting aggressively in Jaipur, Alwar and across Rajasthan. Dalit activists have raised slogans and hoisted the blue-coloured flags symbolic of Dalit resistance in many districts to slam the dubious ‘purification’ performed by Ahuja.

At the national level, opposition leaders and the Congress have raised the issue strongly. At the recent ‘Nyaypath’ session of the Congress in Ahmedabad, Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP over Ahuja’s Gangajal spraying spectacle.

Clearly, Dalit groups and the Congress are keen to use the Alwar incident to paint the BJP as anti-Dalit, question its credentials on Dalit issues and highlight the contradiction between the party's rhetoric of social harmony and the actions of its leaders. Despite Ahuja’s suspension, Dalit groups are staging protests and demanding an apology and stringent action, including criminal proceedings, against the BJP leader.

The incident encapsulates BJP’s dilemma

This simmering row has revived BJP worries over Dalit votes slipping away. In Rajasthan, the BJP lost three of four SC seats in the last Lok Sabha polls. The disciplinary move on Ahuja is linked to BJP fears of damage to its Dalit votes in the upcoming Panchayat and municipal elections in Rajasthan.

In a nutshell, the Alwar incident has ignited a political firestorm, leaving the BJP on the backfoot. Its predicament is compounded by the delicate balance it needs between appeasing its core Hindutva supporters and reaching out to marginalized sections like Dalits. By igniting a sharp debate on untouchability and caste-based discrimination, this tragi-comedy exposes deep-seated fault lines that still plague Indian society and the political complexities arising from them.

By acting against Ahuja, the BJP appears to be addressing immediate political sensitivities but the challenge for the Saffron brigade is to consistently uphold principles of equality and inclusivity.