Gujarat polls: Why Modi will only benefit from Kejriwal's 'vote for anyone but BJP' taunt
Criticising the popular PM often backfires.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on November 26 compared the BJP to Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, saying that by dividing Hindus and Muslims, the party had managed to do in three years what the ISI could not in 70.
"What Pakistan and ISI could not do in 70 years, the BJP has done in three years," Kejriwal said, adding that those who were trying to create this divide were "ISI agents and traitors disguising as nationalists".
The Delhi chief minister even appealed to Gujarat voters at AAP's national conference in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan to vote for any party other than the BJP; the AAP is expected to contest a few constituencies in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly elections.
This is another example of parties trying to outdo the BJP in taking potshots, and falling flat. Just the week before, the BJP managed to create a storm in a teacup over a Modi-is-a-chaiwala themed tasteless meme by the youth wing of Congress.
On Monday, at one of his rallies in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made due use of it, saying the Congress dislikes him because he is poor.
The Congress dislikes me because of my poor origins. Can a party stoop so low? Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become PM. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea but I did not sell the nation: PM Modi #GujaratElection2017 pic.twitter.com/QWQU4mLA4x
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2017
Kejriwal was, undoubtedly, trying to make a valid point. The BJP is openly, unapologetically, polarising the country, making sure Hindu votes rally behind it. It is also true that this polarisation is going beyond elections and spilling over into public life, creating harmful social divisions and too often erupting into violence.
But Opposition parties cannot beat the BJP by aping its IT cell's "jumla baazi". Remarks like Kejriwal's, or the Congress' chaiwala jibe, boomerang, contributing to the BJP's narrative of being a lone warrior surrounded by a hostile establishment.
"If somewhere the AAP is winning, then give your vote for AAP. If any other party is winning, give the vote to them. But defeat the BJP," Kejriwal said. "I request the people of Gujarat to give your vote to that candidate or party who can defeat the BJP," the AAP chief said.
Unselfish of Kejriwal as this is, such statements hardly inspire voters' confidence. People vote for a party that claims its aim is to uplift their lives. Not one which says its only aim is to ensure the opponent's defeat.
Polarisation and Pakistan
Kejriwal sought to make the point that those who are trying to divide the country are not really working for its welfare. For this, he borrowed the BJP's vocabulary of equating all those "against" India to be like Pakistan.
"The country is going through a difficult time. The BJP is trying to divide the country by pitting Hindus against Muslims and Muslims against Hindus. What could be the biggest dream of Pakistan other than seeing India divided?" Kejriwal said.
The problem with this is that those who are most impressed by the anti-Pakistan and anti-ISI rhetoric have already been wooed by the BJP, which has assiduously and creatively used the neighbour as a rallying point for many years.
The saffron party has also sought to establish itself as an incorruptible crusader for the rights of the aam Bharatvasi – the average Hindu ignored by the corrupt, elite, minority-loving, powerful classes.
Those who have been polarised are either okay with it, or have bought into the Hindu-under-threat-due-to-minority-appeasement propaganda. Comparing the BJP to the arch-enemy Pakistan, and calling its efforts to give Hindus their "just" place as dividing the country, will be found offensive by this aam Bharatvasi, who will likely gravitate closer to the BJP.
Such statements also give fodder to the BJP's claims that other parties hate it because it alone speaks for the welfare of the Hindus, and hence gang up against it.
Lately, the BJP has been routinely called out for some of its leaders making tasteless, crass remarks. Statements such as the one by Kejriwal allow the saffron party to point the lowering-the-discourse stick at someone else.
Indeed, as Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, on November 26, said: "The last five years of the Aam Aadmi Party have been disappointing. The party which came up as a symbol of alternative politics lowered the standard of political discourse."
Opposing BJP can't be manifesto
The prime minister and the BJP enjoy unprecedented levels of popularity among most Indians at present. People do believe that Narendra Modi is the man of action who will lead us to a brighter future.
One of the major reasons for this is the utter absence of inspiring Opposition. At such a time, anyone who seeks to wean voters away from the BJP needs to provide better leadership than the party, outline a more attractive future.
Just slamming the BJP gives out the message that all these parties want is to remove the guardian of Hindu rights from power, so that "appeasement" can again be practised unabated.