Before the upcoming assembly elections, the political temperature of the country has started rising. Trying to push the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the back foot on the issues of paper leak and student movements, the major opposition parties have reached the political pitch where the BJP has traditionally been considered strong.
By raising the issue of theft of offerings in the Ram temple of Ayodhya, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress had tried to corner the BJP on its old agenda. However, after this, the way Congress has shown its stand regarding the full singing of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Manusmriti' in the pretext of women's rights, it is clearly indicating that the coming elections will see a tough contest between the two parties on the issue of cultural nationalism.
Know what is the election plan of the opposition?
The plan of the opposition strategists has been to corner the BJP with the help of its own strong issues. But on the other hand, the attitude of the ruling party is showing that cultural nationalism is a favorable pitch for them, on which they can easily put the opposition in the dock on the issue of Muslim appeasement.
Amidst the deadlock in Parliament, opposition parties put pressure on the government with the help of student movements and paper leak cases. Along with this, the issue of Ram temple offerings was raised vigorously in Uttar Pradesh, due to which the opposition gradually came into the traditional political arena of BJP.
BJP got opportunity from 'Vande Mataram' and 'Manusmriti'
When the BJP raised the issue of not singing 'Vande Mataram' in full at the Congress headquarters on the occasion of Independence Day after a law passed by the Parliament, the Congress tried to dismiss it. However, later, considering the strategic advantage, the Congress Working Committee announced that the party would sing only its first two stanzas in its events. From here, BJP got the opportunity to attack Congress aggressively and accuse it of appeasement.
At the same time, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while referring to women's rights in a student program in Pune, targeted 'Manusmriti', after which he started being accused of appeasement on communal grounds. On the other hand, on the issue of Ram temple offerings by SP, BJP is reminding during which regime bullets were fired on kar sevaks in Ayodhya. It is clear from the increased activity of BJP leaders on social media that they are fully prepared to corner the opposition on these issues.
'Both development and heritage are necessary for the public'
Senior professor and socio-political thinker of Delhi University, Prof. According to Niranjan Kumar, both development and cultural heritage are important for the Indian people. The BJP can easily establish the opposition's stand on these issues of cultural nationalism as appeasement in front of the public, the end result of which can be seen in the form of polarization.
On the other hand, Dr. Smita Aggarwal, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Delhi University, believes that these are only emotional issues and will not have a huge impact on the elections. He says that the youth of the country mainly want to talk about issues like employment, economic progress and better education, although such issues often dominate political discussions.