Jharkhand election campaigning hit a new low in religious polarisation

It was truly a watershed election in that sense and won’t be easily forgotten like any routine face-off.

The results of the Jharkhand assembly elections held on November 13 and 20 will be declared on Saturday. But regardless of who forms the next government, the two-phase elections will go down in history for the unprecedented and no-holds-barred misuse of religion to polarise voters in the key state. It was truly a watershed election in that sense and won’t be easily forgotten like any routine face-off.

Notably, the poll watchdog -- the Election Commission of India – did precious little to stop the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s two tallest leaders – who happen to hold constitutional posts and are household names from Kashmir to Kanyakumari -- from spewing anti-Muslim propaganda day after day in one rally after another as if there was no tomorrow. The duo’s Muslim-bashing, at odds with their high office in the world’s largest democracy, hardly met with any resistance from the watchdog or the media.

India’s most powerful and second-most powerful leader were supported by a cast of BJP Chief Ministers of Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, not to speak of the party president who clearly didn’t want to lag too far behind the big guns firing on all cylinders.

There is such a wealth of incriminating evidence available in daily newspapers in various languages, television channels and social media that future historians will have no problem chronicling the BJP top leadership’s transgression of not only the election-time Model Code of Conduct but everyday laws for ensuring peaceful coexistence among various religions befitting a secular democracy.

No sooner the schedule for elections was announced on October 15, the BJP’s star campaigners started demonising Muslims and accusing the Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha of patronising them at the cost of Hindus and tribals. The blatantly communal campaign peaked at the eleventh hour before the second phase of polling on November 20, when the BJP released such a vile anti-Muslim video advertisement that even ECI, which had kept mum for over a month, finally sat up and ordered social media platforms to take it down. The BJP hastily deleted it but without apologising for crossing all limits.

Demonising the 14 percent

Although Muslims constitute around 14 percent of Jharkhand’s population, the BJP painted a complete takeover of the mineral-rich state by Muslims – including Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas from Myanmar -- thanks to Soren-JMM’s soft corner for Muslims. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced at several poll rallies that the Soren government had turned Ranchi, the state capital, into Karachi, and Jharkhand into Bangladesh! Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no less, declared repeatedly that Bangladeshi infiltrators were successfully snatching beti, roti and mati (daughters, livelihoods and land) because the state administration was helping them to become permanent residents.

And Amit Shah, Home Minister, not only put Soren in the dock for allegedly aiding and abetting infiltration but accused the Jharkhand CM of wilfully reducing reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs to give it to Muslims instead! The Hindu-Muslim poll plank drove Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP’s Jharkhand elections-in-charge to announce again and again that the party is not eying power, but is fighting for Hindus and sanatan dharam against illegal immigrants who produce 8-10 children, so that Hindus can chant Jai Sri Ram in peace. Sarma also demanded that Soren remove from the government Muslim leaders like Alamgir Alam and Irfan Ansari in the manner the BJP ousted “Babar from Ayodhya”.

And JP Nadda, not to be outdone in the highly inflammatory cacophony, crowed exultantly about dossiers in his possession on the Soren regime sheltering infiltrators in madrasas and mosques and helping them acquire Aadhaar, voter and ration cards, gas connections and even land deeds.

No innocents when it comes to playing the religion card, but…

Playing the religion card in an Us vs Them campaigning is par for the course during elections in our country. And all political parties without any exceptions are guilty of the evil practice. But does it really behove the PM or the Home Minister, who deserve the respect of all Indians without any exception simply because of the high office they hold, to appeal to voters along sectarian lines? Should the duo openly denigrate the followers of any religion professed in our constitutionally secular country?

I have a suggestion. Can’t the current and future PM and Home Minister, irrespective of their political affiliation, insulate themselves from divisive canvassing purely in the national interest? The nation is certainly above any political party. National unity should get precedence over the loaves and fishes of office. Even if seeking votes in the name of religion is kosher, the PM and Home Minister should probably leave what is decidedly a dirty job to others.

One of the biggest drawbacks of our top national leaders targeting or talking ill of religious minorities during elections or otherwise is that they can’t speak out with any conviction if religious minorities are at the receiving end in India’s neighbourhood. As domestic politics inevitably cast a shadow on our external relations, it might be a good idea for India’s highest political executives to keep on the straight and narrow, leaving the straying, if necessary at all, to others in the council of ministers and the party.