Herald View: Enough of divisive politics

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back to basics. He seems to be treating return of Taliban in Afghanistan as a godsend for him to cash it in domestic politics. His speech while inaugurating Parvati temple at Somnath last week indicated that he was preparing to use Taliban card to polarise Indian voters in the upcoming state elections in places like Uttar Pradesh. Raking up Hindu backlash against Muslim militancy has been his favourite ploy to win elections.

The return of the Taliban in Afghanistan has certainly revived the fear of Islamic militants destabilizing Kashmir and other parts of India. It is good enough for Modi to rake up Hindu fears against the ‘Muslim other’ and take shelter within BJP in elections. He successfully did it in 2019 Lok Sabha elections taking advantage of terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir just a few months before the elections. His polarising speeches during the run up to the election did the trick for his party. People forgetting hardships of issues like demonetisation voted for the BJP and handed over a handsome victory to Narendra Modi for his second term. So why not to use internationally dreaded Taliban to generate Hindu backlash especially when the going is getting tough for the BJP and Narendra Modi now?

A recent India Today survey says that his popularity graph has tumbled from 62 to 24 percent. It must, indeed, be a serious concern both personally for Modi and his saffron party. The only hope for him could be playing the hard Hindutva card in elections. Hindutva politics thrives with a Muslim enemy image hovering in the background.

Taliban do have an anti-India past. They destroyed historic Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, when they ruled the country between 1996 and 2001. Temples and gurdwaras were forcibly shut down at that time in Afghanistan Taliban and many Hindus and Sikhs living there were forced to flee the country and take shelter in India.

Besides, there is sufficient evidence of Taliban meddling inside Kashmir to destabilize India through terrorism. The horrifying Taliban past is good enough for a master polariser like Modi to sell hard Hindutva politics for the BJP in times when it is rapidly losing ground. Prime Minister Modi’s speech at Parvati Temple, Somnath, provides ample proof that he is gearing up his party to play temple politics once again after the Ayodhya temple-mosque politics. Prime Minister both openly and obliquely referred to Afghan warlord Mahmud of Ghazni’s repeated attacks on Somnath temple leading to its destruction and then its regeneration soon after independence. He was apparently telling his audience that once again Ghazni-type figures are back in power and it was time for the Hindus to be vigilant to defeat anti-India plans of modern day Ghaznis.

This is, indeed, a dangerous game. Divisive politics of the BJP has already sufficiently damaged Indian society. Modi may win another election playing such politics, but this will surely damage Indian social fabric. This may also provide both Pakistan and Taliban to fish into troubled Indian waters. Pushing Indian minorities to the wall may provide both Pakistan and Taliban to rope in frustrated elements to revive their anti-India designs.

It is, therefore time for the Prime Minister to act as a statesman rather than a politician out to win elections at any cost. He must not forget that he was the one who had coined ‘India first’ slogan during the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Playing ‘BJP first’ politics will be betrayal of his own promise. India has had enough of divisive politics. It is time for the country to calm down and pay attention to issues of governance.