Follow-up : Congress Resorts to Sectarian Politics

The governing coalition United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under the leadership of Indian National Congress (INC) completed two full term 2004-2009 (UPA-I) and 2009-2014 (UPA-II). But beginning April 2014, the Congress started chanting the slogans of secularism and communalism to persuade the minority community voters during the ongoing 16th Lok Sabha elections. And the  aptly time revelations of the Cobra post.com sting operation of Ram Mandir – disputed structure (Babr-Masjid) demolition in 1992 seems to be another such motivation to  create polarisation of electorate on the basis of religion, that is intended to save the  sinking ship of UPA.

 The Congress Party was governing coalition of 14 parties in 2004 and 2009 and now in 2014 it’s systematically reduced to a coalition of eight smaller parties. Due to the mismanagement of political, socio-economic and minority's issues by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the party is without any viable coalition in many states now. Fearing diminishing Muslim support, and assuming an inevitable defeat, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Shahi Imam Bukhari of Jama Masjid, Delhi, has thus appealed to the Muslims again, to vote for Congress.

As Rahul Gandhi, vice-president of the party and its de-facto leader is also facing the anti-UPA or anti-Congress sentiment, presuming their defeat, many Congress leaders have decided not to contest elections, and some have even joined BJP. And therefore the Congress Party has again resorted to the age old tactics of diverting the electoral attention from the issue of development to communalism.

In the last 25 years, Indian voters never  casted vote based on any  one national cause due to the diversity of caste, region and religion. This was  prudently utilised by the regional leaders and pseudo-secular political parties, and they together enjoyed the political power through alliance with the UPA. But this time, the BJP has been successful in uniting nearly 23 regional political parties and is trying to get maximum support for the cause of stable government. 

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi has aspired million hearts with his growth and development model for a changed Bharat, and the opinion polls have projected that this time BJP can achieve a bigger success than the 1999 elections. On the contrary, the Congress, it is predicted, may face its lowest performance.

In the midst of sheer cynicism and general disillusionment in the INC, it’s Sonia Gandhi who has come out openly to check the rising wave of Hindu Nationalism under the leadership of Modi. She was successful in her political motive in 2004 and 2009 also, when she united the so-called “secular vote” to keep BJP and NDA out of power for ten years. But in the last ten years, Muslim have begun to doubt the Congress’ credentials and are hence voting for other political parties including BJP.

Though Sonia Gandhi has consistently for the past 15 years infused an element of confidence, strength and success in the Congress Party and UPA in the name of secularism. She has failed to meet the expectations of the minorities she had raised in the last ten years. Therefore, the educated Muslims are against the Congress president, who is requesting Mullah's to appeal in favour of the party, while some have even criticized the Imam for falling in the same trap again.

In the past decade, the INC underwent a dramatic change in its approach from single-party government to coalition government. The Pachmarhi Resolution of the Congress party, which had shunned coalition governments, was regarded as an obsolete document. But after BJP's success, Congress has accepted that coalition politics is the demand of time. And the INC strategy changed to  wining pre poll allies and for this Sonia Gandhi forged a pre poll alliance with RJD, NCP, DMK PMK, MDMK and the Left parties in 2004-14th parliamentary election. This strategy helped them win the election, and Congress managed 219 seats with its allies as against 186 seats of the BJP led NDA alliance. The Congress alone got 145 and the BJP 139, making INC emerge as the single largest party, simultaneously also giving birth to a new realignment of political and religious forces in the country in 2004.

Away from the principle idea of secular and socialist democracy, Indian democracy has now become much more multifaceted and sectarian. But the 16th Lok Sabha elections may paint a different picture, as the allies have begun distancing themselves from the Congress party.

In 2014, India's population is about 125 crore. Population of Muslim and Christian is about 20 crore and nearly 15 crore are voters among them. Their votes which are usually garnered on communal lines are expected to change the electoral results in nearly one hundred parliamentary constituencies

this election.

India as a true secular state have given equal opportunities to minority communities and they are flourishing in all walks of life. But now their rising population has become a matter of concern. For the first time Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has published census data on different Religions in India in comparative perspective. The population of Muslims has become a matter of concern. On September 6, 2004 religious data was made public. In its first publication it showed 36.0 per cent growth rate of Muslim population in 1991-2001 compared to 20.3 per cent of Hindus. It became a hot political issue and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders started asking Hindus to have more children to maintain the population ratio.

In 2004, UPA came to power on the issue of ‘Governance, Secularism and Security’. And during its first term, the UPA initiated anti-poverty schemes that were accredited success in 2009. But in 2014, the Congress and its allies are not in a similar position to reap the electoral benefit from the UPA-II government's poverty initiatives as they have not delivered as promised. Due to the rising corruption, the middle class has become a part of the anti-corruption movements in the last two years and are aspiring to have a corruption free nation, as they believe, the UPA and its allies downgraded India's image abroad.

Embroiled in corruption charges, scams, the INC is not in a position to overcome Modi’s wave in 2014, and therefore, the INC leaders have again resorted to sectarian politics and are trying to woo the Muslim and Christian voters in the name of secularism. This polarisation of voters based on religion, is unacceptable and its time that the voters give an appropriate answers to this ‘Victorian Divide & Rule’ policy of Congress.

The following table presents facts on religious composition of India and how much it will polarise the electorate after request for voting on religion consideration : 

-Prof. S N Singh

(The writer is Prof. & Head Pol. Science MDS University, Ajmer)