The 2014 elections were held in the wake of sharp communal polarisation triggered by the Muzaffarnagar riots. In 2019, BJP banked on the Pulwama attack and the Balakot airstrike. This year, the seeds of hatred sown in the past are doing their job.
By Omar Rashid
New Delhi: Unlike the last two Lok Sabha elections, there is no overt communal factor playing out this time in Uttar Pradesh even though the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) campaign has been high on communally provocative rhetoric. However, travelling through parts of western Uttar Pradesh, where several districts have Muslim populations larger than the state average of 20%, one finds that the mistrust towards Muslims is still fuelling the saffron party’s prospects.
In 2014, the elections were held in the wake of sharp communal polarisation triggered by the Muzaffarnagar riots. The BJP furthered the communal divide and was able to cash in on the perception among Hindus that the Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav sided with the Muslims during the incident. In 2019, the Pulwama attack and the Balakot airstrike, sold by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a strong response to Muslim country Pakistan, created an atmosphere of jingoistic frenzy, further widening communal fault lines. In 2024, there is no recent communal incident or event threatening to sharpen the Hindu-Muslim divide although the BJP has tried to seek votes in the name of Ram and engaged in communal rhetoric by misrepresenting the Congress’ election manifesto. However, the Opposition, especially the SP is still battling the baggage of its past rule.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.