By Rajdeep Sardesai
In a distant corner of the country, a ‘new’ BJP is attempting to break through an ‘old’ barrier. At a Sunday mass in one of Shillong’s oldest churches, union minority affairs minister John Barla is among the prominent attendees. His presence is meant to reassure the citizenry of a Christian-dominated state going to the polls that the BJP is not anti-Christian. With 75 of its 80 candidates across Meghalaya and Nagaland from the Christian community, the BJP is hoping to showcase itself as a party which is now far more embracing of a religious faith with whom the Sangh Parivar has traditionally had an uneasy relationship with.
The BJP might well argue that it has been in power in Goa for over a decade now, another state with a substantial Christian population. In Meghalaya and Nagaland, it has been a coalition partner in government for the last five years. The BJP’s tie-ups with regional parties in Meghalaya and Nagaland, both governments headed by Christian chief ministers, are designed to send out a message of being a more inclusive political force. But power-sharing agreements through opportunistic post-poll deals is not quite the same as winning the hearts and minds of a community that remains suspicious of Hindutva politics.
When last month, a church in Chattisgarh was vandalized by a Hindutva vigilante group, Meghalaya’s Christian organisations raised a red flag, calling on prime minister Modi to break his silence on what they called ‘the increased targeting of the Christian community’. When an octogenarian Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and eventually died in hospital after complaints of ill-treatment, there was an angry reaction from church bodies. When the Karnataka assembly passed an anti-conversion bill, there was condemnation from community leaders. Indeed, from anti-conversion laws in BJP-ruled states which are seen to be aimed at curbing Christian missionary activity in tribal areas to attempts made at enforcing beef bans, the saffron brotherhood’s political beliefs have often been at odds with the BJP‘s desire to expand into greenfield geographical areas.
The strategy so far has been to practice a politics of stark dualism: pursue hardline Hindutva in the heartland states but be more willing to adjust to local sensitivities in the periphery of the country where sheer demographics demand greater flexibility. The AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi may well claim to have exposed the underlying hypocrisies in the BJP’s agenda by remarking that ‘Beef is mummy for the BJP in UP but is yummy in Goa and the north east’ but the dichotomy also reflects a pragmatic attitude in dealing with a diverse society with varied food habits. Where a BJP in a previous avatar may well have been more rigid in sticking to its core ideological values, the ‘new’ BJP is willing to compromise for political benefit.
In his defining book, ‘Bunch of Thoughts’, long serving RSS sarsanghchalak, MS Golwalkar had marked Muslims, Christians and Communists as the three major internal threats to the country. “Such is the role of Christian gentlemen residing in our land today, out to demolish not only the religious and social fabric of our life but also to establish political domination in various pockets and if possible all over the land.” The ‘new’ BJP has attempted to distance itself from Golwalkar’s views in public – even if his portrait is often found in the homes of sangh parivar leaders – and the reach out to Christians is part of a well-calculated approach.
Firstly, the BJP seeks to make a key distinction between Muslims and Christians. The sizeable presence of Muslims across the country and the rise of Islamic radicalism means they are more likely to be typecast as ‘enemy figures’ to consolidate a core Hindutva constituency. Christians, by contrast, are a much smaller community – around 28 million and 2.3 per cent of the population as per the 2011 Census – and therefore relatively politically insignificant and perceived as less of a threat to a dominant Hindu community.
Secondly, Christian groups are seen to be more open for a dialogue with the BJP leadership than Muslims for whom prime minister Modi is still anathema, his persona defined by the 2002 Gujarat violence. Significantly, the BJP in the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections gave a ticket to a Christian tribal leader, who won against a tough opponent. By sharp contrast, the BJP has steadfastly chosen not to put up any Muslim candidate in Gujarat, almost as if the community remains a political ‘untouchable’. The BJP’s interaction with Syrian Christian Bishops in Kerala is just as noteworthy: the attempt is to find common ground by preying on Islamophobia and shared anxieties over ‘love jihad’, a term used to stoke fears of religious conversion through marriage. In Goa too, the BJP, especially under late chief minister Manohar Parikkar, consciously projected its Catholic MLAs
Thirdly, there is a realization that any targeting of Christians will invite a global backlash from the western world. Recall how in 2015, former US president Barack Obama had spoken of acts of religious intolerance in India which would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi. Recall also how prime minister Modi in 2021 made it a point to hug and invite Pope Francis to India, almost as if recognizing the need for creating the right optics with the global head of the Catholic church.
Finally, there is prime minister Modi’s overarching ambition to be recognized as a genuine pan-Indian leader whose appeal is not confined to the Hindi heartland or the Hindu voter. The north-east push of the Modi government is a crucial element in this exercise. When the prime minister for example is spotted in Khasi head-gear in Meghalaya, he is seeking to identify himself with the local customs. When he appeals for votes in the name of a ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ credo in Nagaland, he is seeking to be judged on the basis of a non-discriminatory development scheme framework.
It is unclear just how successful the BJP’s wooing of Christian voters will be: just the day before Barla was attending Sunday mass, the Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien was also holding closed door parleys with church representatives as was a local Congress leader. The fight for the Christian vote has only just begun.
Post-script: While the sangh parivar has often targeted Christian missionary schools and accused them of religious conversion in the garb of education, what is often conveniently forgotten is that a long list of BJP leaders – from LK Advani to Arun Jaitley to Piyush Goyal to JP Nadda – studied in Christian-run education institutes. The distinguished alumni offer the best testimony against toxic political propaganda.
(The writer is a senior journalist and author. mail: [email protected])