Laimayum Bashanta Sharma.
Without an iota of doubt, the mainstream Hindu agenda of constructing a Ram mandir in the birthplace of Lord Ram was used by the political arm of the Sangh Parivar the BJP to garner hindu votes during its infancy. Grabbing political power was the only way out. In a democracy, only those in power elected by the people can implement policies. An opposition party can only contribute to constructive criticism of the government or provide a dissenting opinion however it’s the ruling party that enjoys the real power. The combined leadership of swargiya Atal Bihari Vajpayee and hardcore Lal Krishna Advani utilised the public sentiment of the majority of Hindus to catapult BJP from an obscure party (remnants of the Jana Sangh) to a pan-India party. The first non-congress-led stable ruling alliance NDA(National Democratic Alliance) riding on the success of the Kargil war and the popular Ram Mandir construction agenda was formed in 1999. The famous Rath Yatra to unify Hindus taken out the BJP leadership led by L.K. Advani on multiple occasions bear testimony to the effort by the BJP and like-minded organisations to consolidate Hindu votes.
Ever since the Babri Masjid demolition the left-liberal and some radical representatives of the minority community backed by western and mainstream Indian media coined the term Communal BJP and targeted BJP 24/7 from then till today. This ecosystem selectively targeted Shri Narendra Modi as he was directly blamed as the main architect behind the infamous riot in the aftermath of the Godhra carnage. A cowardly attack against unarmed Hindu pilgrims and Kar sevaks mostly women and children who were returning home from Ayodhya. They were torched alive inside the Sabarmati Express coach by an angry mob near the Godhra railway station in the Indian state of Gujarat. The Honourable Apex court of India and SIT formed by the then congress regime could not find even one clinching evidence to declare Narendra Modi guilty which led to his acquittal, later on, went on to become the Prime Minister of India by securing BJP a big win in 2014. After 9 years of dominating the political sphere of India, the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi has today become an all-inclusive political party as it combines a pro-market economic stance with large-scale implementation of populist agendas and traditionalist values. The anti-Modi and anti-BJP ecosystems have made a mess of their narratives by becoming anti India exposing their nefarious design. Their accusation that the BJP has become more communal under Modi Sarkar as it used discriminatory policies mainly to indulge in minority bashing to polarise the voters has been largely ignored by new India. Some of the BJP’s most striking recent political successes have come in predominantly Christian states in India’s northeast. The BJP government of Uttar Pradesh, a state with a population of about 200 million, enjoys strong support from Shia Muslims. The world street journal declared India’s BJP as the world’s most important party recently. As the IMF predicted a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2026 and India emerging as a main player in the Indo-Pacific region, an expected thumping victory under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi in 2024 is gaining tremendous momentum. The BJP hopefully will silence this propagandist ecosystem once and for all to make India and Indians great again.
(The writer is the Spokesperson of BJP Manipur Pradesh)
