7/15/2023 0 Comments Stronghold 3Those ideological platforms alone can’t lead you to victory.” “Your state government hasn’t performed if you do not have strong enough leadership. “That’s not to say (the BJP’s) ideological platforms have no takers. The Congress has “managed to resurrect a social coalition” of voters from religious, social and economic minorities, Verma added. While the BJP’s agenda may have been to bank on populist politics, Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a leading Indian think-tank, said these ideological platforms ultimately failed to “give them the extra vote.” Though officially abolished in 1950, India’s 2,000-year-old caste system still influences many aspects of life, categorizing Hindus at birth, defining their place in society, what jobs they can do and who they can marry. In the lead up to the polls, the BJP proposed removing some benefits from Muslims and allocating them instead to two upper-caste Hindu communities. In today's India, clothing choices signal a deepening religious divide Dipayan Bose/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images Students and activists hold a banner while shouting slogans during a demonstration in Karnataka after Muslim students were told not to wear hijabs in schools. “Were they to lose some or all of the remaining state elections this year, including three big states in the (central and northern) Hindi belt, that may be further indication of waning support,” he said. The vote in Karnataka was the first of five state elections scheduled for this year, which are often seen as a litmus test for voter sentiment in a national poll.īut despite the heavy loss, Modi’s “national stature remains intact and the BJP ought to be going into the general elections next year as frontrunners,” said Rohan Venkat, non-resident visiting scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania. “The Congress has proved it can win a head-to-head battle with the BJP despite the saffron party using Modi as the headliner of its campaign,” wrote The Wire, an independent news outlet, calling the victory “a personal defeat for Modi’s brand of politics.” On Wednesday, veteran Congress politician Siddaramaiah – who goes by one name – was announced as Karnataka’s new chief minister, ending days of speculation over who will lead the state. The opposition Congress party won 135 seats in the state’s legislative assembly, versus 66 for the BJP, giving Modi’s opponents a boost as they prepare to challenge India’s populist leader in next year’s general election. ![]() Karnataka had been perceived as a “laboratory” for the BJP’s right-wing Hindu-nationalist ideology – known as Hindutva – and some analysts say the defeat is a sign of trouble for Modi as he aims to secure a momentous second decade in power. ![]() India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lost its only stronghold in the country’s south after voters in Karnataka state rejected the Hindu-nationalist policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party in crucial local elections last week.
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