But what’s more worrying is that the showmanship has now moved much beyond the temple.
Speaking to his colleagues in the government last month before the election campaigns got off the ground, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked them to exercise restraint in their speeches so that the main focus of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign remains on the core issue of development. This was a statesman-like advice from the prime minister of the world’s largest democracy. However, the extreme heat and dust of politics, perhaps, made him forget that he is also supposed to walk his own talk. The use of religion in election speeches is not new in India, and neither is it new for Modi or the BJP or for that matter any other political party. The Ram Temple has been a poll plank for decades and its construction a culmination of a long-drawn political project by the Sangh parivar. Though it goes against the convention that religion should not be mixed with politics during election speeches, it is no surprise that the BJP is milking the mandir to attract voters.
But what’s more worrying is that the showmanship has now moved much beyond the temple. On Sunday, in an undisguised resort to sectarian polarisation after the first round of polling, Modi alleged the Congress’s poll manifesto had pledged to “survey” and “attach” citizens’ properties and distribute them disproportionately among Muslims, “who have more children”. In an election rally at Banswara in Rajasthan, Modi alleged that even the “mangalsutras” of “mothers and sisters’ would be confiscated and distributed among “Musalmaanon” (Muslims). Referring to a 2006 speech by his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Modi said the Congress government at that time wanted Muslims to have the first right over the country’s resources. “Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators?” Modi asked to resounding applause from the crowd. His latest comments seemed a sharper attempt at polarisation than during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, when he said that if a “kabristan” (graveyard) was built, a “shamshan” (cremation ground) must be built too.
The speech followed another one last week — this time in Udhampur — where Modi compared some opposition leaders with Mughals for hurting the sentiments of the majority community by eating non-vegetarian food during Navratri. This was in reference to a video showing some opposition leaders having mutton during the month of Saawan. Modi also likened the Congress’s manifesto to that of the Muslim League’s agenda before Independence. The problem with such speeches is that the rank and file gets encouraged with what their supreme leader says or does, vitiating the political atmosphere further.
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In any case, speeches, interviews, campaign hoardings and social media are full of religious issues, either linked to temples, personal laws, dietary habits or historical narratives that reek of religious appeal. That doesn’t speak well of the Election Commission of India (ECI) which seems to be either sleeping on the job or drowning itself in a sea of technicalities on what constitutes the use/abuse of religion in campaigning. So the less said about the ECI, the better. The relevant point here is that the BJP, which is supremely confident of crossing 400 seats this time and has a reasonably good record on development work, does not need to do such shrill campaigning that further alienates 14% of India’s population and makes them feel targeted. The biggest political show on earth should not be reduced to an open season for the use of religion in election campaigning.
