- Why BJP Sings Kabir
Badri Narayan writes in his column for The Indian Express that the BJP has been appropriating religious symbols related to popular sects like the Nathpanth, Ravidasis and Kabirpanth. It is part of the party’s strategy to attract Dalits, the marginalised and backward communities. These sects have a following among the Dalits, MBCs and OBCs. The party is also trying to co-relate Hindu symbols with those of Buddhism in order to mobilise the followers of that religion, who belong mostly to the Dalit and OBC communities.
This strategy aims to do two things. One, provide respect to icons who are key to the Dalit desire for dignity. Two, forge linkages between Hindutva and the popular sects, which were expressions of non-Brahminical upsurges at different times in the country’s history.
The PM’s speech underscored how the symbol of Ram was important for Kabir. This is one way the BJP is trying to woo the Kabirpanthis. This politics of symbols will not only help the BJP build up a votebank but also help the party develop a cadre base comprising people of these sects. The party is trying to appropriate the icons who strove to create an egalitarian society, into the Hindu fold. The BSP had earlier used this strategy for mobilising marginal communities. But the BJP endeavour is different. It is an attempt to make affix a Hindu identity to these communities.
- The Advertising Mirror?
Santosh Desai says that advertising has been, without our necessarily, thinking of it as such, an important part of our emotional landscape. In his column for The Times of India, he writes that there is something quite unique about advertising, particularly on television, as a mode of communication. It is a compressed, highly stylised form of storytelling that implants desire directly and intrusively into our everyday lives. By associating consumption with the deeper motivations that drive us, it serves as a theatre where desire is enacted using dramatic fragments from our lives.
Advertising, seen one way, is a lie that speaks the truth. It exaggerates, embellishes and reframes reality in order to speak to desires that we are often unable or unwilling to articulate. It connects the banal with the lofty, embedding higher orders of meaning into small everyday actions of little consequence.
At any point in time, the advertising of an era helps articulate and frame the yearnings that animate it. It thus becomes a document of the times, a map that brings to the surface aggregate desires that are often hidden from view. There are any number of advertising campaigns that resonated strongly and looking back, one can see how some of these played a key role in shaping the ways in which we imagined ourselves.
Of late, something seems to be changing in our relationship with advertising, and in its ability to speak to our deeper motivations with a startling flash of insight. The odd example notwithstanding, it is not that easy to think of campaigns that capture the spirit of a generation or of this era.
- Regionalism, not secularism, is the new pivot of Indian politics
In her column for Hindustan Times, Barkha Dutt writes that the rhetoric notwithstanding, in the run-up to 2019, the pivot around which the non-BJP parties will organise themselves will be regionalism and federalism — and not secularism.
The anti-Narendra Modi sentiment among these state satraps is higher than an anti-BJP ideology per se. In any case, most of the regional political protagonists have had alliances and understandings with the BJP in the past. Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Mayawati, N Chandrababu Naidu, K Chandrasekhar Rao have all either been in alliance with the BJP or showered praise on its leadership at different points of time.
The party that will be hurt the most by the ascent of regional forces and their localised identities will be the Congress. For years the Congress has argued that the fundamental difference between it and the BJP is that it is secular. But now — unless wins in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh can tilt the scales — the Congress not just has to play second fiddle in a rainbow coalition of regional parties; it also has to accept that these state forces will set the narrative. Most likely the political fault line in 2019 will be Hindutva vs Caste disruptions.
- Tricky path ahead
Commenting on what lies ahead for the BJP in 2019 elections, Bhaskar Dutta writes in his article for The Telegraph that with four years of the five-year term of the National Democratic Alliance government over, the attention of the government – more importantly, the Bharatiya Janata Party – has shifted to the next general election that has to be held by May 2019. Roaring back to power was supposed to be a cakewalk only a few months ago. Unfortunately for the BJP, and fortunately for almost all other parties, there has been a transformation in the political atmosphere in recent months.
Strong confirmation that the next election is wide open is available in a recent Mood of the Nation survey conducted by Lokniti, a research programme of the well-known Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. The survey, conducted coincidentally for ABP News, polled just under 16,000 voters across 19 states. While Modi still holds a sizeable lead over Rahul Gandhi in the personal popularity stakes, a continuation of the trend would spell disaster for the BJP.
A majority of those interviewed are particularly dissatisfied with the government’s handling of religious tensions. The increased oppression of religious minorities over the last four years as well as the government’s total indifference to – many would say active connivance in – this has been so apparent that it is hard to imagine that this will come as a surprise to the BJP.
Unfortunately, no government in India has been able to rise above short-term electoral compulsions, and there is no reason to believe that this government is any better. There is a real danger that the government may indulge in cheap populism like loan waivers. That would jeopardize the possibility of attaining even a sustained growth path around the current trend rate of 7.5 per cent, with any higher figure beyond the realms of possibility.
- Is there no space for saner voices today?
Socio-political churning in India is at its peak and one of the biggest reasons for this is social media. Manak Gupta writes in his column for Hindustan Times today that views and ideological standpoints are getting polarised into two extremes, with logic usually being the casualty.
I am aware that abuse and intimidation has taken both physical and a virtual dimension. People converge online to perpetuate verbal abuse against a virtual opponent particularly when the opponent is independent, skeptical and courageous. But dissent and resistance are part and parcel of a healthy democracy; sadly, between two extremities rational voices get not only killed, but are also misinterpreted. We should question everything.