2019 will be won or lost in 2018
This year will see the BJP seeking to retain MP, C’garh and Raj. The party will try to win in Karnataka and increase its footprint in the Northeast:

Twenty Seventeen should have ended on a sweet note for the BJP with the party and its allies in power across the length and breadth of the country. Never before had India seen such a saffron surge drowning all opposition. Never before had India witnessed a similar electoral smash-and-grab if we discount the early decades after Independence when the Congress was the dominant and the sole pole of politics.

From winning an estranged though natural ally back into the NDA fold to sweeping the polls in Uttar Pradesh to making inroads in the north-eastern states and retaining all held territory barring Punjab, the Modi Army was invincible. The popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained undiminished and the winning skills of BJP president Amit Shah remained unchallenged.
At the National Executive meeting in Bhubaneswar, Shah had unveiled his vision of India where the BJP would be in power from panchayat to Parliament. A casual look at all elections since then would confirm that it was not empty rhetoric. As 2017 draws to a close, we are closer to Shah realising his grand dream of one nation, one people, one leader. The BJP and its allies are now in power in 77 per cent of India with 68 per cent of the country’s population. The Congress remains vanquished.

Yet the triumphalism that we have seen among the BJP’s leaders and its rank and file in the closing days of the year could be misplaced. The year ended with the BJP winning a bitterly fought battle for Gujarat, Modi’s home turf, with a narrow margin, ceding space to the Congress and exposing its vulnerabilities. Homer celebrates the battle victories of Achilles; Statius tells the story of Achilles’s heel.

And so it is that 2017 ends on a less than perfect note for the BJP. Dissent is no longer limited to professional dissenters, as we are currently witnessing in Gujarat where a disgruntled deputy Chief Minister unhappy with the portfolios given to him has refused to take charge of office. This would be unthinkable earlier. Should we see this as the first of the red flags?

Not really. What the Gujarat election results have also brought to the fore is the masses have begun to question the claimed delivery of Modi Sarkar, especially on the economic front. The average Indian is not particularly bothered about GDP numbers or ease of doing business rankings, or for that matter demonetisation and GST. End of the day, what matters to the masses is food on the table and money in the pocket. Every election is transactional, though politicians love to believe it’s about ideology.

Three and a half years ago Modi stormed to power riding the soaring hopes and aspirations of millions of Indians, most of them young and tired of the corruption and chicanery that had come to define Congress rule. It was to end the atrophy that had set in, to liberate the potential of Indians, to make India a better country with greater opportunities than ever existed.

As Modi enters the penultimate year before he returns to the people to ask for a second term in office, those hopes and aspirations do not quite appear to have been met. Even if we were to set aside contested statistics and causative factors, the reality is not flattering for either Modi or the BJP. Jobs are disappearing at a rate far higher than at which they are being created. Agricultural disquiet is mounting at an alarming speed. Systemic changes that were expected in the bureaucracy have not happened. And investors are yet to begin investing their money in India.

It would almost seem that the noise and fury over demonetisation and GST have been manufactured to distract attention from issues that are far more politically debilitating than politicians would want to concede. Loan waivers have been showcased but they are not the solution to farmers’ angst. It does not seem there is an effort to understand and act on this front. Public spending on infrastructure projects could spur industrial revival and job creation. But here too, grand announcements do not match spending.

This year will witness the BJP seeking to retain Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The BJP will try to win in Karnataka and increase its footprint in the north-eastern states. It will also try and consolidate the slim gains in Jammu & Kashmir where a political solution eludes both Srinagar and New Delhi. The middle classes hope that the government will not entirely abandon them given the Finance Ministry’s disdain for taxpayers. It is debatable if corruption still agitates minds dulled by Modi Sarkar’s spectacular inaction in punishing the corrupt.

By December 31, 2018, we shall know who will win in the summer of 2019.

The author is a political commentator

2019 will be won or lost in 2018 | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis
 
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The petition says it is compulsory for all students — irrespective of faith or belief — to recite the common prayer, which is in Sanskrit and Hindi, in a particular manner by closing eyes and folding hands.


The petition to determine if the 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country are promoting Hinduism was filed by advocate Veenayak Shah whose children graduated from one of the schools.(HT file)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to ascertain whether a Hindi prayer sung in the morning assembly in more than 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools across India promotes a particular religion and violates the Constitution.

“It is a very important constitutional issue,” a bench headed by Justice RF Nariman said while issuing notice to the government.

The petition was filed by an advocate Veenayak Shah whose children graduated from a Kendriya Vidyalaya. Shah, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, said the practise of prayer created obstacles in developing scientific temperament among students as the whole idea of God and religious faith is given immense priority and instilled as a thought-process among the students.

“Students as a result learn to develop an inclination towards seeking refuge from the almighty instead of developing a practical outcome towards the obstacles and hurdles faced in everyday life, and the spirit of enquiry and reform seems to be lost somewhere,” the plea said.

“All the students irrespective of their faith and belief, have to compulsorily attend the morning assembly and recite the prayer,” he said in the petition. The prayer also includes some Sanskrit words.

Teachers share the collective responsibility of supervising the assembly and making sure that every student folds his/her hands, closes his/her eyes and recites the prayer without fail. Any student failing to do so is punished and humiliated in front of the entire school, he said.

Shah also submitted before the court that the common prayer is a “religious instruction” within the meaning of Article 28 of the Constitution and should therefore be prohibited. Article 28(1) says that no religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of state funds.

The Kendriya Vidyalayas are a system of Central Government schools that were instituted under the aegis of the human resource development ministry.

“The above prayer is being enforced throughout the country in all Kendra Vidyalayas. As a result, parents and children of the minority communities as well as atheists and others who do not agree with this system of prayer such as agnostics, scepticists, rationalists and others would find the imposition of this prayer constitutionally impermissible,” the petition said.

SC to decide if Kendriya Vidyalayas promote a religion through Hindi prayer, seeks Centre’s response
 
The SC list of priorities ought to be commended . From making mandatory the playing of the anthem in cinema halls before the movie to the above . All this while they're terribly short staffed . They deserve my vote for a pay hike .
 
I had done prayers along with all my fellow students for entire school life in similar manner. The group consisted Hindus, Muslims and few Sikhs but not a single student or guardian condemned it. No one was bothered if it promoted any religion rather this was a routine. Even students from other religion used to take turns to volunteer for leading the chorus. don't find any of them lagging in education or have changed their beliefs due to morning prayers.

So much of pretending to be secular that people are going to destroy every practice. May be someone would tell that each religion should have their own prayer and thus divide children based on religion at such a tinder age.
 
West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Why TMC, Mamata Banerjee are embracing janeu-dhaari politics to counter BJP
Politics Sreemoy TalukdarJan 10, 2018 17:32:20 IST

There’s something curious going on in the state of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who has for long battled charges of minority appeasement, has taken a sudden and sharp turn towards janeu-dhaari politics.


File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI

Ahead of the crucial panchayat polls scheduled later this year, through a string of political and administrative moves, the Bengal chief minister is out to prove that Trinamool Congress is not an ‘anti-Hindu’ party but ‘more-Hindu’ than even the BJP.

This change in attitude and attempted change in perception is straight out of the Congress’ ‘soft-Hindutva’ playbook but is being conducted with all the finesse and subtlety of a bull in china shop. Dropping all ‘secularist’ pretensions, Mamata is beating tin drums and sounding gongs in paying obeisance to symbols of Hinduism.

Consider the moves: Anubrata Mondal, the party’s senior leader in Birbhum district, where the BJP is on an upswing despite any grassroots structure to speak of, conducted a ‘Brahmin and Purohit sammelan’ (congregation and felicitation of Brahmins and Hindu priests) in Bolpur on Monday.

According to a report in NDTV, Mondal, who has earned notoriety for his ‘strongman’ image, appeared at the event donning a saffron kurta and bowed before the congregated Hindu priests with folded hands, saying, “If I have said anything wrong, forgive me... we need purohits at birth, marriage and death. You are so necessary in society. Nothing can happen without you."

At the event where huge cutouts of the chief minister were on display, Mondal said that “the BJP is not interpreting the religion in the right manner. In the name of Hindutva politics, it is misleading the people of the country. If we have to learn about Hindu religion, we will learn it from Hindu priests and not from the BJP,” reported Indian Express.

The nearly 1,500 Hindu priests and Brahmins were handed a shawl, pictures of Maa Sarada and Ramakrishna and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita each. According to a report in Times Now, the priests were promised financial aid and cows by the party in lieu of their attendance.

One of the priests, Sunil Sarkar, told NDTV: “We all came with the expectation of a stipend, like the one given to Muslim clerics. They didn’t give it to us earlier. Now they are thinking about it. Perhaps because panchayat polls are round the corner.”

This wasn’t an isolated incident. A pattern is clearly visible of recent acts that reveal Mamata’s desperation to refute BJP’s charge that TMC is insensitive towards Hindus and their causes.

Reports emerged last November that the state will distribute around 2,000 cows to all rural households in Birbhum district to ostensibly “enhance milk production”. The CPM called it a “completely political move” and accused Mamata of “copying BJP”.

Last December, during a visit to Sagar Islands to oversee the preparations for the upcoming Ganga Sagar Mela (an annual pilgrimage for Hindus where millions converge for a holy dip and to attend the fair), Mamata called for it to be “given the status of Kumbh Mela”.

She reportedly spent about an hour at Kapil Muni's ashram with chief priest Gyandasji during her visit and vowed to “come again”.

In her temple visits or setting up of boards to renovate key shrines in Kalighat, Tarapith and Tarakeswar, the shift from minorityism to majoritarian politics is evident.

The swing is more palpable in TMC’s case because, so far, Mamata worked assiduously towards weaning away Muslim votes in Bengal (a considerable figure at 30 percent of the electorate) from the Left and had been busy consolidating that gain. She stayed resolute despite frequent charges of ‘minority appeasement’ from political rivals and even the judiciary.

For instance, in 2016, the Calcutta High Court in a ruling held TMC government’s curbs on Durga idol immersion on account of Moharram as “arbitrary” and a “clear endeavour to appease the minority section of the public”.

When the state government last year again tried to ban immersion of Durga idols on the day of Moharram, the Calcutta High Court yet again revoked the ban and issued a stern rebuke, warning the TMC government against curtailing citizens’ rights.

In 2013, the high court scrapped Mamata’s stipend to imams. The Bengal chief minister was paying more than Rs 2,500 per month to 30,000 imams and Rs 1,500 per month to over 15,000 muezzins. The division bench called it “squandering of public money”.

For a party that uses minorityism as the cornerstone of its politics and remains heavily reliant on Muslim votes, this brazen and blatant turn towards Hindutva politics betrays nervousness and insecurity over larger mobilisation of Hindu votes and an urgency to deny BJP the fruits of that mobilisation.

Mamata would have noted, with some concern, the BJP’s silent rise in rural vote bank that is yet to be translated into electoral success. For instance, in the recent Sabang Assembly bypoll, BJP’s vote share increased from 5,610 votes in 2016 to 37,476 in 2017.

As Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta writes in Hindustan Times, “the growing sway of the BJP all over India has brought about a discernible Hindu-ward tilt in the popular mood. Hitherto, the parties opposing this shift countered it with ‘secular fundamentalism’. We may now be witnessing a shift in emphasis, with Hindu nationalism being regarded as the new consensus.”

Mamata’s moves reflect a national trend. During campaigning for Gujarat Assembly polls, Congress’ janeu-dhaari new president Rahul Gandhi tried desperately to rid the party of its ‘pro-minority’ image. He embarked on a breathless temple run and showed such a pronounced tilt to the Right that Muslim voices were obliterated from poll consciousness during the length of the campaign.

In its effort to deny BJP the benefits of a Hindu coalition, the Congress ended up thoroughly disempowering its Muslim vote bank, perhaps under the notion that Muslims don’t need wooing because they have no option but to vote against BJP.

As long as the BJP stays electorally ascendant, the so-called “secularist” parties will increasingly jettison their faux secularism in favour of a pro-Hindutva slant.

Fascinating to see ‘secular’ Congress politicians declaring that the Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhaya. Watching Zee TV’s Taal Thok Ke I find it hard to tell the difference between BJP and Congress spokesmen.
— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) January 9, 2018
This reflects two realities of Indian politics. One, rival parties have finally realised that BJP is benefiting from the faux secularism that defined Indian electoral equation for decades. Initially in denial, parties such as the Congress and TMC are attempting a ‘course-correction’ to the Right to break BJP’s perceived monopoly over Hindu votes.

Two, along with the tilt in position, the Opposition will now increasingly target a fracturing of the Hindu votes by hammering at the caste fault lines. They believe that a combination of these two strategies will be enough to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut in 2019.


Published Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM | Updated Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM
 
West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Why TMC, Mamata Banerjee are embracing janeu-dhaari politics to counter BJP
Politics Sreemoy TalukdarJan 10, 2018 17:32:20 IST

There’s something curious going on in the state of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who has for long battled charges of minority appeasement, has taken a sudden and sharp turn towards janeu-dhaari politics.


File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI

Ahead of the crucial panchayat polls scheduled later this year, through a string of political and administrative moves, the Bengal chief minister is out to prove that Trinamool Congress is not an ‘anti-Hindu’ party but ‘more-Hindu’ than even the BJP.

This change in attitude and attempted change in perception is straight out of the Congress’ ‘soft-Hindutva’ playbook but is being conducted with all the finesse and subtlety of a bull in china shop. Dropping all ‘secularist’ pretensions, Mamata is beating tin drums and sounding gongs in paying obeisance to symbols of Hinduism.

Consider the moves: Anubrata Mondal, the party’s senior leader in Birbhum district, where the BJP is on an upswing despite any grassroots structure to speak of, conducted a ‘Brahmin and Purohit sammelan’ (congregation and felicitation of Brahmins and Hindu priests) in Bolpur on Monday.

According to a report in NDTV, Mondal, who has earned notoriety for his ‘strongman’ image, appeared at the event donning a saffron kurta and bowed before the congregated Hindu priests with folded hands, saying, “If I have said anything wrong, forgive me... we need purohits at birth, marriage and death. You are so necessary in society. Nothing can happen without you."

At the event where huge cutouts of the chief minister were on display, Mondal said that “the BJP is not interpreting the religion in the right manner. In the name of Hindutva politics, it is misleading the people of the country. If we have to learn about Hindu religion, we will learn it from Hindu priests and not from the BJP,” reported Indian Express.

The nearly 1,500 Hindu priests and Brahmins were handed a shawl, pictures of Maa Sarada and Ramakrishna and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita each. According to a report in Times Now, the priests were promised financial aid and cows by the party in lieu of their attendance.

One of the priests, Sunil Sarkar, told NDTV: “We all came with the expectation of a stipend, like the one given to Muslim clerics. They didn’t give it to us earlier. Now they are thinking about it. Perhaps because panchayat polls are round the corner.”

This wasn’t an isolated incident. A pattern is clearly visible of recent acts that reveal Mamata’s desperation to refute BJP’s charge that TMC is insensitive towards Hindus and their causes.

Reports emerged last November that the state will distribute around 2,000 cows to all rural households in Birbhum district to ostensibly “enhance milk production”. The CPM called it a “completely political move” and accused Mamata of “copying BJP”.

Last December, during a visit to Sagar Islands to oversee the preparations for the upcoming Ganga Sagar Mela (an annual pilgrimage for Hindus where millions converge for a holy dip and to attend the fair), Mamata called for it to be “given the status of Kumbh Mela”.

She reportedly spent about an hourat Kapil Muni's ashram with chief priest Gyandasji during her visit and vowed to “come again”.

In her templevisits or setting up of boards to renovate key shrines in Kalighat, Tarapith and Tarakeswar, the shift from minorityism to majoritarian politics is evident.

The swing is more palpable in TMC’s case because, so far, Mamata worked assiduously towards weaning away Muslim votes in Bengal (a considerable figure at 30 percent of the electorate) from the Left and had been busy consolidating that gain. She stayed resolute despite frequent charges of ‘minority appeasement’ from political rivals and even the judiciary.

For instance, in 2016, theCalcutta High Court in a rulingheld TMC government’s curbs on Durga idol immersion on account of Moharram as “arbitrary” and a “clear endeavour to appease the minority section of the public”.

When the state government last year again tried to ban immersion of Durga idols on the day of Moharram, the Calcutta High Court yet again revoked the ban and issued a stern rebuke, warning the TMC government against curtailing citizens’ rights.

In 2013, the high court scrapped Mamata’s stipend to imams. The Bengal chief minister was paying more than Rs 2,500 per month to 30,000 imams and Rs 1,500 per month to over 15,000 muezzins. The division bench called it “squandering of public money”.

For a party that uses minorityism as the cornerstone of its politics and remains heavily reliant on Muslim votes, this brazen and blatant turn towards Hindutva politics betrays nervousness and insecurity over larger mobilisation of Hindu votes and an urgency to deny BJP the fruits of that mobilisation.

Mamata would have noted, with some concern, the BJP’s silent rise in rural vote bank that is yet to be translated into electoral success. For instance, in the recent Sabang Assembly bypoll,BJP’s vote share increasedfrom 5,610 votes in 2016 to 37,476 in 2017.

As Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta writes in Hindustan Times, “the growing sway of the BJP all over India has brought about a discernible Hindu-ward tilt in the popular mood. Hitherto, the parties opposing this shift countered it with ‘secular fundamentalism’. We may now be witnessing a shift in emphasis, with Hindu nationalism being regarded as the new consensus.”

Mamata’s moves reflect a national trend. During campaigning for Gujarat Assembly polls, Congress’ janeu-dhaari new president Rahul Gandhi tried desperately to rid the party of its ‘pro-minority’ image. He embarked on a breathless temple run and showed such a pronounced tilt to the Right that Muslim voices were obliterated from poll consciousness during the length of the campaign.

In its effort to deny BJP the benefits of a Hindu coalition, the Congress ended up thoroughly disempowering its Muslim vote bank, perhaps under the notion that Muslims don’t need wooing because they have no option but to vote against BJP.

As long as the BJP stays electorally ascendant, the so-called “secularist” parties will increasingly jettison their faux secularism in favour of a pro-Hindutva slant.

Fascinating to see ‘secular’ Congress politicians declaring that the Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhaya. Watching Zee TV’s Taal Thok Ke I find it hard to tell the difference between BJP and Congress spokesmen.​

— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) January 9, 2018
This reflects two realities of Indian politics. One, rival parties have finally realised that BJP is benefiting from the faux secularism that defined Indian electoral equation for decades. Initially in denial, parties such as the Congress and TMC are attempting a ‘course-correction’ to the Right to break BJP’s perceived monopoly over Hindu votes.

Two, along with the tilt in position, the Opposition will now increasingly target a fracturing of the Hindu votes by hammering at the caste fault lines. They believe that a combination of these two strategies will be enough to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut in 2019.


Published Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM | Updated Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM


It's good to see the entire playing field shifted to the right thanks to BJP; just hope the Bengali Hindus don't fall for this dramebaazi. There slowly seems to be a real wave forming for BJP thanks to Hindu consolidation and backlash against the TMC's misrule. Snapping up Mukul Roy and giving him freedom to organize & grow the party, and engineer defections was a Shah masterstroke; now the BJP just needs to find a popular and charismatic face/leader that it can pit against Mamata.
 
West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Why TMC, Mamata Banerjee are embracing janeu-dhaari politics to counter BJP
Politics Sreemoy TalukdarJan 10, 2018 17:32:20 IST

There’s something curious going on in the state of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who has for long battled charges of minority appeasement, has taken a sudden and sharp turn towards janeu-dhaari politics.


File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI

Ahead of the crucial panchayat polls scheduled later this year, through a string of political and administrative moves, the Bengal chief minister is out to prove that Trinamool Congress is not an ‘anti-Hindu’ party but ‘more-Hindu’ than even the BJP.

This change in attitude and attempted change in perception is straight out of the Congress’ ‘soft-Hindutva’ playbook but is being conducted with all the finesse and subtlety of a bull in china shop. Dropping all ‘secularist’ pretensions, Mamata is beating tin drums and sounding gongs in paying obeisance to symbols of Hinduism.

Consider the moves: Anubrata Mondal, the party’s senior leader in Birbhum district, where the BJP is on an upswing despite any grassroots structure to speak of, conducted a ‘Brahmin and Purohit sammelan’ (congregation and felicitation of Brahmins and Hindu priests) in Bolpur on Monday.

According to a report in NDTV, Mondal, who has earned notoriety for his ‘strongman’ image, appeared at the event donning a saffron kurta and bowed before the congregated Hindu priests with folded hands, saying, “If I have said anything wrong, forgive me... we need purohits at birth, marriage and death. You are so necessary in society. Nothing can happen without you."

At the event where huge cutouts of the chief minister were on display, Mondal said that “the BJP is not interpreting the religion in the right manner. In the name of Hindutva politics, it is misleading the people of the country. If we have to learn about Hindu religion, we will learn it from Hindu priests and not from the BJP,” reported Indian Express.

The nearly 1,500 Hindu priests and Brahmins were handed a shawl, pictures of Maa Sarada and Ramakrishna and a copy of the Bhagavad Gita each. According to a report in Times Now, the priests were promised financial aid and cows by the party in lieu of their attendance.

One of the priests, Sunil Sarkar, told NDTV: “We all came with the expectation of a stipend, like the one given to Muslim clerics. They didn’t give it to us earlier. Now they are thinking about it. Perhaps because panchayat polls are round the corner.”

This wasn’t an isolated incident. A pattern is clearly visible of recent acts that reveal Mamata’s desperation to refute BJP’s charge that TMC is insensitive towards Hindus and their causes.

Reports emerged last November that the state will distribute around 2,000 cows to all rural households in Birbhum district to ostensibly “enhance milk production”. The CPM called it a “completely political move” and accused Mamata of “copying BJP”.

Last December, during a visit to Sagar Islands to oversee the preparations for the upcoming Ganga Sagar Mela (an annual pilgrimage for Hindus where millions converge for a holy dip and to attend the fair), Mamata called for it to be “given the status of Kumbh Mela”.

She reportedly spent about an hourat Kapil Muni's ashram with chief priest Gyandasji during her visit and vowed to “come again”.

In her templevisits or setting up of boards to renovate key shrines in Kalighat, Tarapith and Tarakeswar, the shift from minorityism to majoritarian politics is evident.

The swing is more palpable in TMC’s case because, so far, Mamata worked assiduously towards weaning away Muslim votes in Bengal (a considerable figure at 30 percent of the electorate) from the Left and had been busy consolidating that gain. She stayed resolute despite frequent charges of ‘minority appeasement’ from political rivals and even the judiciary.

For instance, in 2016, theCalcutta High Court in a rulingheld TMC government’s curbs on Durga idol immersion on account of Moharram as “arbitrary” and a “clear endeavour to appease the minority section of the public”.

When the state government last year again tried to ban immersion of Durga idols on the day of Moharram, the Calcutta High Court yet again revoked the ban and issued a stern rebuke, warning the TMC government against curtailing citizens’ rights.

In 2013, the high court scrapped Mamata’s stipend to imams. The Bengal chief minister was paying more than Rs 2,500 per month to 30,000 imams and Rs 1,500 per month to over 15,000 muezzins. The division bench called it “squandering of public money”.

For a party that uses minorityism as the cornerstone of its politics and remains heavily reliant on Muslim votes, this brazen and blatant turn towards Hindutva politics betrays nervousness and insecurity over larger mobilisation of Hindu votes and an urgency to deny BJP the fruits of that mobilisation.

Mamata would have noted, with some concern, the BJP’s silent rise in rural vote bank that is yet to be translated into electoral success. For instance, in the recent Sabang Assembly bypoll,BJP’s vote share increasedfrom 5,610 votes in 2016 to 37,476 in 2017.

As Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta writes in Hindustan Times, “the growing sway of the BJP all over India has brought about a discernible Hindu-ward tilt in the popular mood. Hitherto, the parties opposing this shift countered it with ‘secular fundamentalism’. We may now be witnessing a shift in emphasis, with Hindu nationalism being regarded as the new consensus.”

Mamata’s moves reflect a national trend. During campaigning for Gujarat Assembly polls, Congress’ janeu-dhaari new president Rahul Gandhi tried desperately to rid the party of its ‘pro-minority’ image. He embarked on a breathless temple run and showed such a pronounced tilt to the Right that Muslim voices were obliterated from poll consciousness during the length of the campaign.

In its effort to deny BJP the benefits of a Hindu coalition, the Congress ended up thoroughly disempowering its Muslim vote bank, perhaps under the notion that Muslims don’t need wooing because they have no option but to vote against BJP.

As long as the BJP stays electorally ascendant, the so-called “secularist” parties will increasingly jettison their faux secularism in favour of a pro-Hindutva slant.

Fascinating to see ‘secular’ Congress politicians declaring that the Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhaya. Watching Zee TV’s Taal Thok Ke I find it hard to tell the difference between BJP and Congress spokesmen.​

— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) January 9, 2018
This reflects two realities of Indian politics. One, rival parties have finally realised that BJP is benefiting from the faux secularism that defined Indian electoral equation for decades. Initially in denial, parties such as the Congress and TMC are attempting a ‘course-correction’ to the Right to break BJP’s perceived monopoly over Hindu votes.

Two, along with the tilt in position, the Opposition will now increasingly target a fracturing of the Hindu votes by hammering at the caste fault lines. They believe that a combination of these two strategies will be enough to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut in 2019.




Published Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM | Updated Date: Jan 10, 2018 17:32 PM

now the BJP just needs to find a popular and charismatic face/leader that it can pit against Mamata.


Return of the prodigal.

Incidentally , WB has an SC + ST population in excess of 25%. The BJP wouldn't do worse than to get that charismatic figure from this section of the population thus killing many birds with one stone .The 2nd Caliph Umar Ibn Khattab referred to the Arabs as the raw material of Islam . Time to take a leaf out of his book.
 
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There is huge funding from foreign Church orgs for NGO PIL activists to attack Hindu traditions. This is part of that agenda. You don't get a PIL against Christian missionary schools to stop the Lord's Prayer and the hymns in the assembly.Or the deliberate removal of Bindis, bangles,Sacred thread worn by Hindu students in Missionary schools.
 
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Hindu prayers in Government schools is NOT Secular. But Government looting wealth of ancient Hindu temples and "managing" them is Secular Indian secularism for you
 
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Reactions: Bali78
It is said when Hindus vote as a bloc every party will start applying Tilaks on their foreheads,wear janeus outside shirts and start celebrating Hindu festivals and sing bhajans. This is the change 2014 elections bought in these Pseudo Secular parties. Fun fact, even CPI ( Communists) are trying soft-Hindutva playing Sri Krishna bhajans before a CPI meeting
 
Communist Party also turning towards soft-hindutva?
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Aryavanshi
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January 9, 2018
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Seems like the success of Bharatiya Janata Party and their agenda of Hindutva has inspired other political parties to also take a soft- Hindutva Approach.

Very recently during Gujarat assembly election campaigns the Congress President Rahul Gandhi clearly took a soft-hindutva approach by visiting multiple Hindu temples everyday. The Congress party even declared Rahul Gandhi to be Janeu-dhari (sacred thread wearing) Hindu from an official press conference. Following footsteps of his party president the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramiah proclaimed himself to be a devotee of Lord Rama few days back prior to assembly elections in his own state.

Congress party taking a soft- Hindutva approach is nothing new as the party had experimented with the same under leadership of Rajiv Gandhi as-well. But what is surprising is that now even Communist party seem to be making a slight Hindutva shift.

A few days back In West Bengal a CPIM (Communist Party of India Marxist) public meeting started with Hari-nama Kirtan (religious songs of Lord Krishna). The Kirtan were sung from the stage of CPIM in presence of top communist leaders of West Bengal including Suryakanta Mishra.



Girish@GirishP45126383
CPM meeting starts with Krishna Bhajans.

Like #MamataGitaUTurn CPM is also in the 'Hindu Bhakthi Margam'
15:20 - 9 Jan 2018
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This sudden singing of kirtans from the stage of atheist Communist party has surprised many. The video of communist kirtan is going viral on the internet since as people are taking jibes on them.

9 JanGirish@GirishP45126383
CPM meeting starts with Krishna Bhajans.

Like #MamataGitaUTurn CPM is also in the 'Hindu Bhakthi Margam' pic.twitter.com/AKyr8UsDWk
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9 Jan
CPM meeting starts with Krishna Bhajans.

Like #MamataGitaUTurn CPM is also in the 'Hindu Bhakthi Margam' pic.twitter.com/AKyr8UsDWk
This is surprising. When did commies turned to Krishna follower s?
18:40 - 9 Jan 2018
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9 JanGirish@GirishP45126383
CPM meeting starts with Krishna Bhajans.

Like #MamataGitaUTurn CPM is also in the 'Hindu Bhakthi Margam' pic.twitter.com/AKyr8UsDWk
₹€€मרימה@Reinebow23
Hillarious to see that @OfficeOfRG @cpimspeak @MamataOfficial @siddaramaiah all think that theyl win by this propaganda 4getting that people now are also aware of their misdeeds.Its not just #HinduDeniedEquality !!! Theyl still be voted out
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19:14 - 9 Jan 2018
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CPIM is not the only party in West Bengal which seem to be making turn towards soft Hindutva. Few days back Trinamool Congress organized a massive gathering of Brahmin priests in West Bengal. In the program TMC leaders distributed copies of Bhagwad Gita.

According to experts Hindu voters in India are more conscious about their identity in 2017 than they were a decade ago which is the reason no party wants to be seen as anti-Hindu anymore.

Effects Of Hindu Unity: Communist Meeting In West Bengal Starts With Kirtans Of Lord Krishna
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I had done prayers along with all my fellow students for entire school life in similar manner. The group consisted Hindus, Muslims and few Sikhs but not a single student or guardian condemned it. No one was bothered if it promoted any religion rather this was a routine. Even students from other religion used to take turns to volunteer for leading the chorus. don't find any of them lagging in education or have changed their beliefs due to morning prayers.
So what are you trying to say??

May be someone would tell that each religion should have their own prayer and thus divide children based on religion at such a tinder age.
Somewhere around the point here

I never understood the concept of prayers in schools anyway. It should include only exercises, national anthem etc.
 
Totally agreed!!


"From ignorance, lead me to truth;
From darkness, lead me to light;
From death, lead me to immortality"


How exactly this is gonna hurt any ones religious sentiments?

There were various chapters from bible and Mahabharata/Ramayana included in school syllabus to teach students about good deeds and kindness. Should that also be removed citing the secular nature?