BJP’s strategy is to polarise the electorate

The party had placed controversial advertisements in major newspapers in the State

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with NDA leaders at an election rally at Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Friday. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar

The signs of desperation are apparent in the Bharatiya Janata Party camp, with just two rounds of polling left in the five-phase Bihar elections: abandoning all talk of development and the inclusive slogan of sabka sath, sabka vikas , the barnstorming oratory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah is now focusing on polarising the electorate.

Simultaneously, the party has begun to place overtly communal advertisements in the Bihar edition of major newspapers.

In every speech, Mr. Modi is warning the OBCs that if they allow the grand coalition — the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress — to come to power in the State, 5 per cent of the quota reserved for OBCs will be sliced off for “another community”, i.e. the Muslims.

Mr. Modi’s “warning” — that had no basis in reality — is being read in political circles as an attempt to check the rush of the Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs), who had voted for the BJP-led NDA in the 2014 general election, towards the grand coalition.

In these elections, the EBCs had been the most undecided of all social groups — wary of the grand coalition because of the dominance of the powerful Yadavs while unable to identify fully with the upper caste-dominated BJP. But after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, not once but twice during the course of these elections, sought a review of caste-based reservations, they began to support the grand coalition.

Mr. Modi’s statement was thus calculated to both halt this move and create a wedge with the Muslims.

Next came Mr. Shah’s “It can’t be ignored anymore. If the BJP by any chance loses, there’ll be [celebratory] fireworks in Pakistan.....”, a provocative statement intended to equate patriotism with voting for the BJP. Oddly enough, the mild mannered former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Modi on Friday endorsed this sentiment in a tweet: “If the BJP wins in Bihar there will be Diwali in India & if the UPA wins there will be celebration in Pak.,” underscoring the BJP’s efforts to polarise voters along religious lines.

The BJP has also placed front-page ads questioning why minorities need reservation.