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The Opposition parties led by the Congress and the TMC have managed to put the BJP government under pressure by forcing adjournments in the winter session of the Parliament over the conversion issue. While the BJP has distanced itself from statements made by its various affiliates on conversion, the opposition has sought a statement from the Prime Minister. The BJP has refused the demand and the resultant standoff has meant that the passage of crucial bills like the Insurance and coal mines bill has been stalled
But contrary to general perception, the BJP loves it when Opposition slams it for events like ‘ghar wapsi’. Here is why:
1. Criticism serves BJP by countering its claims of innocence: On Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told the Lok Sabha that neither the Modi government nor BJP had anything to do with ‘ghar wapsi’ or religious conversions. Naidu was telling the truth, but a partial one. For, it isn’t the BJP but Sangh Parivar affiliates like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Dharma Jagaran Manch that organised recent ‘reconversions’ in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat.
This BJP approach sends a message to the educated elite and the international audience that the party and the PM do not want anything to do with the more aggressive elements of the Sangh Parivar. However, the strident criticism by the Opposition that the BJP is very much a part of the larger Sangh Parivar helps in negating any doubts its core supporters might have about the intentions of the party now that it was in power.
2. It diverts attention from ‘vikas’: Most think Narendra Modi got the 2014 vote for development. It is early days but ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ isn’t easy to deliver. Therefore, Opposition’s raking up issues like religious conversions in the interim helps keep the national discourse away from the core issue of development. BJP leaders, for good measure, have been accusing the Opposition of coming up with contentious issues when there was peace in nearly all of the country.
3. Publicity keeps the flock together: The organisers of the all the ‘ghar wapsi’ events have taken care to publicize these by letting the media know. The Opposition, by its protests inside and outside Parliament, has added grist to this publicity mill. More publicity means more confidence among the faithful that the Sangh Parivar will not let slip this golden opportunity of a full majority government to implement its core agenda.
4. Opponents painting themselves as anti-Hindu: the Sangh Parivar, as also the BJP, believes the protests by the Opposition and coverage by mainstream English media is a storm in a tea cup. It points out how conversions was a non-issue for the regional language press, and “exercised” only the “Anglicized elite”.
5. No ‘India Shining’ again: Sangh Parivar activists are convinced how the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was formed in 1998-99 on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, and was lost in 2004 when it forgot this issue and talked only of development and ‘India Shining’. The Sangh Parivar was unlikely to repeat that mistake again. It believes the 2014 vote, at least in key swing states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, was as much for development as against UPA’s appeasement policies. It thinks this to be the sentiment that consolidated Hindu votes in the two states that played the most crucial role in helping BJP get a majority on its own. So, what better than an opposition that fails to hold the BJP accountable on economic reforms and job creation promised by the party but continues to harp on the issue of religious conversions?
