New Delhi: Popular Front of India Chairman OMA Salam has, in a statement, termed BJP’s victory in the state assembly elections, a result of the large scale communal polarisation carried out by the BJP. BJP as usual had relied heavily on communalism to woo the vote bank and by this, they were successful in trumping the livelihood issues and issue-based politics that came to discussion during the elections. The BJP thus diverted people’s attention from the misgovernance and core developmental issues by communalising the voters’ minds and running hate propaganda targeting minority religions, added Mr Salam. The success of the BJP in the same state and constituencies where the farmers’ protests had turned into a tidal wave of anger is proof of this, he noted.
The secular parties are still standing clueless before the Hindutva election strategies and are relying on soft-Hindutva and half-baked notions of secularism. The need of the hour was not these kinds of outer skin treatments but strategies and broad-based alliances upholding constitutionally assured secular values of the country. They have failed in assessing and addressing the gravity of the situation where communal polarization, hatred and genocidal calls are posing a serious threat to our existence as a country. These secular parties should now introspect, learn lessons from their failure, and get themselves ready for a fundamental change in approach with regards to the secularism they imagine and practice. They should at least now take a meaningful stand towards saving our country and its constitutional values from the onslaught of Hindutva.
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