Now, that is a problem, already accentuated.
And even after that, the elements are not
ready to take stock of the situation.
Narendra Modi was eloquent with confidence
when he had said back in May 2014 that he was there for two terms and the 2019
general elections were already won.
It followed the streak for some time, with
Modi looking invincible electorally.
The letdown of the two major rounds of the bye-elections
was mopped by BJP's victory in three assembly polls with the added bonus of the
party emerging as the second largest party in Jammu & Kashmir.
But, after almost nine months in the prime
minister's office, that eloquence is getting some shattering reality check.
And an 'unbridled run' of the fringe
elements furthering the communal agenda is one of the reasons behind it.
The communal elements that have long been
associated with the BJP's politics started sounding victorious from the day one
as if the victory of Narendra Modi and BJP had given them a safe haven.
Initially the BJP dismissed reactions on
their acts.
The dismissive attitude was helped by
victories in assembly polls. But in all those states, the BJP was the main
opposition voice contesting the polls, against the anti-incumbency of the
ruling governments.
But with no effective checks on these
voices, they soon started going berserk, sounding and acting unhinged. Vitriolic
statements were delivered and practiced. Religious conversions, saffronization
of education and making India a Hindu nation started getting frequent
visibility.
And this frequent visibility soon started
getting traction.
It forced the BJP to come in a defensive
mode, distancing itself from the voices, once the cracks started appearing,
with the opposition attacking the government in the Parliament, with the people
expressing their displeasure on social media and other platforms and with the media
outfits debating and discussing the issue with rightly oriented critical
coverage.
But the final bolt came with the
humiliating loss in the Delhi polls, the first avenue where the BJP was seen
ruling the National Capital Territory through the Central rule.
The many factors that contributed to the
BJP's drubbing in Delhi had in the 'fringe communal elements running amok' a
principal collaborator.
The agenda of these fringe elements generally
doesn't go down well with the voters from the middle classes, the youth, the
aspiring and job-seeking population segments and the education and peace-loving
lot from every class of the society.
The BJP's first test on this parameter was
in Delhi and it failed here miserably.
Narendra Modi is well aware and he has
tried to distance his government away from any radical or communal agenda.
Though his silence has been questioned at times, he has come out and spoken
clearly to strengthen the secular fabric of the country by voicing full support
to the religious freedom, like he did during an church event in Delhi this
month. He has been expressing his views in different ways and on different
platforms.
But his efforts have failed so far.
And with the RSS, the BJP's ideological
mentor, getting more vocal about its 'Hindu Nation' theory and 'religious conversion
and re-conversion' debate, with statements questioning even a Mother Teresa,
alleging her to be involved in religious conversion in the garb of charity, the
path ahead looks even more entangled.
To continue..