Turning the tables: How BJP is making the Congress more BJP than BJP

The Congress is increasingly leaning towards Hindutva, leaving its Muslim supporters to seek other alternatives

When the Indian National Congress begins its Ram Van Gama Yatra on September 23 from the banks of the Betwa river in Orcha town of Madhya Pradesh, it will be doing more than just retracing the mythical route taken by Lord Rama while on his way to his self-imposed 14-year exile. The Congress, which has not been allowed to return to power in the state since December 2003, would be hoping this Rama yatra ends its 14 years in the wilderness in the state.

A yatra of Lord Ram, which one would associate more with the Congress’ political opponents, is an indicator of the not-so-silent transmogrification of the party under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Interestingly, the Congress’ metamorphosis has less to do with its own convictions than with its principal political opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by the duo of party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.

Over the past year, under its president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has been increasingly taking up causes that would otherwise be the preserve of its ultra-right opponents. And much of it began after Sonia Gandhi famously remarked at a conclave organised by a media house in March 2018, “BJP has managed to convince people that the Congress is a Muslim party, but the vast majority of Congressmen are Hindus, and then there are Muslims too. I used to visit temples when I travelled with Rajivji... Rahul also used to visit temples, but now we are doing it publicly because of the narrative that BJP built with regard to us.”

There are certain manifestations of how the BJP’s successful branding of the Congress as an anti-Hindu party has played out on its psyche and political strategy. One of the most striking instances of the Congress’ pro-Hindu projection is playing out in Madhya Pradesh, which is scheduled to go to polls later this year.

This is exemplified by the party’s Ram Van Gama Yatra, which will begin a week after Rahul Gandhi on September 17 made a public address in the state. The yatra, from the historic town of Orcha on September 23, will end in the town of Chitrakoot on October 8. While it is not clear if Rahul Gandhi would be sitting atop the raths, local party leaders have confirmed that former union minister Kamal Nath will be leading the charge during the yatra.

“Shivraj Chouhan had promised the people of Madhya Pradesh that he would undertake this yatra to remember Lord Rama’s exile. But he has forgotten the promise he made 10 years ago. The Congress will do for Lord Rama what the BJP failed to do despite promising the people,” said Balaji Bachchan, the working president of the Congress in the state.

Among other things, the Congress plans to perch Hindu saints atop the chariots of Lord Ram and play paeans in Rama’s name as the caravan moves 300 km across towns, villages and cities over 21 days. The Congress’ use of saffron-robed saints in its yatra is a counterpoint to the BJP government’s elevation of Hindu religious figures to the status of Cabinet ministers in the state.

The Congress’ Rama Yatra will be a second in a series of such cross-state journeys undertaken by the party to appeal to voters in the Hindu-majority state. In April this year, former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, unarguably the tallest leader of the party in the state, had concluded his six-month Narmada Yatra which he reportedly described as a “religious and spiritual” exercise.

Rama is just one arrow in the Congress quiver for beating the BJP at its own game in the state. What’s more, the Congress has also promised to set up cow shelters, or gaushalas, in each of the 23,412 panchayats across the state if voted to power in 2018. The politics of cow protection, associated with the BJP, was adopted by the Congress through an announcement by Kamal Nath at a public rally in Vidisha on September 2. Nath’s assertion was aimed to counter a demand by a Hindu religious leader enjoying the Cabinet minister status in the Shivraj Chouhan ministry for a separate ministry for cow protection in the state.

Madhya Pradesh, like some other states, has a cow protection board exclusively meant to take care of these animals in designated shelters, reportedly with an annual budget of Rs 160 million. The Congress has gone so far as to leverage Rahul Gandhi’s recent Kailash Mansarovar by branding him as a dedicated Shiva devotee in its banners across the state.

And, it’s not just Madhya Pradesh where the Congress is increasingly projecting itself like the BJP. In states like Rajasthan, which will also go to polls later this year, the Congress has taken a more direct approach to appealing to Hindus. That was seen in its statewide Sankalp Yatra, which began at a 19th-century temple in the fort town of Chittorgarh with senior leaders like Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in attendance.

That was preceded by the visit of Rahul Gandhi to temples across the state – two of them in Jaipur. Local Congress leaders say that Rajasthan’s voters will punish the Vasundhara Raje government for demolishing Hindu temples in the name of development.

While both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to polls, the Congress is busy buttressing its pro-religion credentials in states like Punjab as well. The Amarinder Singh government recently amended criminal laws to make offences involving desecration of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib punishable with life imprisonment. The law was later amended to punish desecration of holy texts of all religions with life imprisonment. The move by the Amarinder Singh government projected the Congress as the champion of a cause the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its ally BJP would have preferred to spearhead.

This pan-Indian pro-Hindutva and pro-religion projections of the Congress could have a significant impact on the party’s chances in the upcoming Assembly elections, especially in Rajasthan, where it has strong prospects of wresting power back from the BJP. The party could also dent the BJP’s dominance in Madhya Pradesh. That is because both these states are heavily Hindu dominated – ideal for the Congress to mimic the BJP’s strategy.

Hindus comprise 91 per cent of the population in Madhya Pradesh, much higher than the national average of 80 per cent. In Rajasthan, Hindus make up 88 per cent of the population – again higher than the national average. Muslims, whom the Congress has in the past been accused of appeasing for preservation as a vote bank, comprise just about seven per cent of the population in Madhya Pradesh, and 9 per cent in Rajasthan — much less than the national average, with Muslims comprising 14 per cent of India’s population.

What has perhaps shaped the Congress proclivity to engender BJP’s Hindutva approach is its perceived success in Gujarat in 2017 and the Karnataka Assembly elections earlier this year. Rahul Gandhi had made several temple visits and was projected in the media donning religious paraphernalia in these states. In Gujarat, the Congress won 16 more seats that the previous polls, and that was exactly the number of seats BJP lost. The party eventually ended up with its best show in Gujarat in a long time. In Karnataka, where the Congress was an incumbent, the party managed to retain the largest vote share and emerged as the most popular party, despite losing almost a third of its seats.

If the Congress experiment of mirroring the BJP in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh succeeds, will the party transform as a ‘party for Hindus’ for the 2019 polls? More importantly, who will the Muslims turn to if the Congress is increasingly forced to brandish a BJP-style Hindutva? The end of 2018 could well answer that question.