After Gujarat, BJP in tandem with its ideological mentor RSS has decided to bite the bullet to sort out its other 2G problem which has been festering for long - Gau raksha.
With situation fast slipping out of hand the party has had to call for an intervention at the highest-level to temper a fast-deteriorating situation on both fronts.
That cow vigilantes have been on a prowl is not a recent development.
In the last one year, sporadic yet numerous incidents of zealots taking law into their hands have been reported from across the country.
Two cattle traders were hanged in Latehar district of Jharkhand in March this year. Dadri lynching vicariously creeps into the political discourse every now and then.
All this while, India's export of bovine meat - mind you all this is buffalo meat for India does not export cow meat - has come down by 15 percent to 3.9 billion USD in 2015-16 from 4.5 billion USD the year before that. The 'pink revolution' is clearly on a decline.
And then just before the Monsoon Session of Parliament was to begin last month, Una happened.
The medieval justice meted out through public flogging of Dalits in Gujarat was captured by mobile cameras.
Social media disseminated it far and wide. A week later when Parliament met, BSP leader Mayawati, who is battling to keep her flock together in faraway UP, struck and struck hard. By the end of the week, the Dalit czarina had moved in quickly to cement a Dalit-Muslim combination. Both BJP and SP were caught unawares.
It is this formidable socio-political combination of the two communities which has the potential to topple BJP's applecart in the high-stake UP polls next year.
Not surprisingly, the BJP has been forced to take an unambiguous position on cow vigilantes.
If one were to look at UP's demographic spread, Muslims and Dalits together constitute a formidable alliance in many assembly segments across the state. BJP's electoral strategy in UP generally hinges on the division of Muslim votes and a broad consolidation of Hindu voters.
In the given circumstances, if Muslims votes get divided among three claimants- SP, BSP and Congress- it helps BJP's cause no end.
Concurrently, if BJP is able to wean away a section of Dalits and backward communities to its fold, it is advantage BJP by far. Conversely, if Dalits and Muslims are mobilised by an Una-like episode, there is no stopping Mayawati.
BJP in UP - or for that matter in any other part of the country - does not want a redux of Bihar.
In the aftermath of the Dadri lynching and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's interview on quota, beef and reservations dominated the political discourse in the state assembly polls last year. Social groups came together and mobilised against the BJP. The result was for everyone to see.
The damage has been done. But the BJP has learnt its lesson from Bihar. This is why damage control has been initiated without any further delay. And it has six months to do that before elections are called in UP early next year.
Comments
0 comment