On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Rs 900 crore Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi. He pitched the project as another attempt by the BJP government to restore the country’s lost glory, claiming it to be a symbol of India’s spirituality and heritage. Governments at both the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, headed by the BJP, have been making constant efforts to renovate temples and other religious sites.
There has been a Hindutva agenda at the core of every issue, whether it be Ayodhya’s Ram Temple or Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Dham. BJP leaders boast that they have forced the opposition to speak about Hindus and Hindutva. However, the opposition claims that the BJP does not possess copyright on matters affecting the majority. Construction and renovation of temples have forced the opposition to play on a somewhat ‘unfamiliar’ Hindutva pitch ahead of assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh.
Therefore, while former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has reignited the Hindu versus Hindutva debate, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted that money for KV Dham was actually approved by his government. Also, the BSP’s approach has undergone a paradigm shift as its general secretary, Satish Chandra Mishra, invokes Hindu deities.
Analysts say that competing with the BJP on Hindutva could be as difficult as playing cricket on foreign soil for an opposition party. In the past, opposition parties were either silent on issues like Ram Temple construction or labeled the BJP as a communal party for raising contentious issues. Now, as a result of the saffron surge, opposition leaders are attempting to present themselves as better Hindus.
‘The opposition has been lacking the conviction with which issues close to the majority population should be raised up. Wearing janeu (sacred thread) or running from one temple to another will not suffice to take on the BJP which has been aggressively pursuing the Hindutva agenda,’ a political observer said. On condition of anonymity, a BJP leader said: ‘The opposition parties were in trouble since they have remained silent over the narratives of apologetic Hindus for twenty years. The BJP, however, took this as an opportunity to become the voice of the majority’.
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‘Congress leaders are trying to expose the false Hindutva of the BJP. They have never hidden their own faith and respect the faiths of others. BJP uses religion for politics,’ Tiwari said. Even in Kashi, several temples were demolished in the name of beautification. He added that they would have opposed that if it had been done by any other government. Congress had also advocated the construction of Ram Temple, but not at the cost of demolishing the mosque.
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