Mumbai: After a poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has seemingly adopted a hardline Hindutva agenda ahead of the assembly elections.
From August 4, “Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morchas” led by the Sakal Hindu Samaj, a BJP-supported umbrella body of Hindutva organisations, will be back in the state. First held in late 2022, these rallies involve members marching through cities with saffron flags and headwear, followed by speeches against the Muslim community. Hindu right-wing organisations such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sanatan Sanstha organised about two dozen such marches in various parts of the state last year.
With about two months to go before the assembly polls in October, BJP leaders have also been vocal about conspiracies like “land jihad”, “love jihad”, and waqf land-related cases. The party leadership believes this will help polarise the pro-Hindutva vote bank ahead of the polls.
According to party insiders, re-introducing Jan Aakrosh Morchas across the state was the directive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent. The first such morcha will be organised at Karmala in Solapur on August 4, followed by another in Amravati on August 14.
This story was originally published in hindustantimes.com. Read the full story here.
