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Shades of saffron: How BJP is fine-tuning its Hindutva agenda from state to state

Goa and Punjab went in for polls on February 4, while polling in the remaining three states will take place in the coming days.

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Amit Shah releasing BJP's manifesto in Uttar Pradesh.
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Changing one's stance to woo voters is a common practice adopted by political parties ahead of elections. As three out of five states are yet to go in for polls these practices would be carried out more often, especially with Uttar Pradesh in fray.

The ruling party at Centre, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) had managed to secure 71 of 80 seats in UP during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, which constituted a big chunk of their total of 282 seats. Now, with the pari-war in the ruling party of the state, BJP is trying to make inroads in UP, a state where voting patterns are decided on caste and religious lines.

During the early 90s, the Ram Mandir was a major political issue for the BJP, but in 2017 PM Modi has not even mentioned it during his rallies in UP. In its 2014 general election manifesto, the BJP relegated the Ram Temple issue to the last page as a mere afterthought. However, when BJP party president Amit Shah released the manifesto for UP Elections on January 28, he mentioned the Ram Temple issue and the Kairana exodus of 2016. While the BSP and SP have a strong presence among the Dalits, the Yadavs and the Muslim vote bank, it makes sense for the BJP to woo OBCs and other backward castes under the Hindutva agenda which looks to unite all Hindus, irrespective of caste.

However, for Punjab and Goa, the two states which went in for polls earlier last week, the Hindutva element was completely missing from the party's agenda. In Punjab, with BJP being a supporting partner in the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, their focus in the manifesto was towards Dalits and farmers rather than dividing voters along religious lines. Also, considering that the issue of drugs, farming, housing and employment holds more prominence for voters in the state than voting on communal lines, the party had drafted the manifesto carefully.

In Goa poll promises were made to SC/STs and OBCs and not religious groups by the ruling party. In the 2012 state assembly election, prior to which the state was ruled by Congress, this demarcation on the lines of caste was not present in BJP's manifesto. However, this time the saffron party promised to provide education, skill training and make the state unemployment-free if they come back to power again.

BJP hasn't announced it's manifesto in Manipur yet. The state which is currently ruled by Congress has never had a BJP chief minister. However, the economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) on national highways and territorial integrity in view of the talks between the Centre and insurgent Naga group NSCN (IM) are important poll issues, but the party seems to be clear on its Hindu-oriented stand. In the list of candidates announced by BJP, only one Muslim has been given a ticket with two candidates yet to be announced. In the first list, there were 17 Muslim aspirants and 18 Muslim dominated constituencies, but they were not given a ticket. Which actually substantiated Congress' claim that BJP wants a minority-less government in Manipur.

In case of Uttarakhand, since the state is dominated by security personnel, PM Modi's speeches in the hill state focused on OROP, while also trying to invoke a sense of nationalism among the voters as the communal and religion card wouldn't work in the state. BJP in the manifesto thus emphasised on education, employment and corruption-free governance. 

Whether they will live up to the promises or not will only be known later, but what remains to be seen is whether the changed approach towards voters of different regions will have an impact on their voting patterns.

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