Modi cultivated trust among Muslim voters in UP

There are very many firsts associated with 2017 Uttar Pradesh poll.

In this election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clocked its highest ever tally of 325 seats in UP, while Congress hit its nadir with 7, a massive trickle down from its equally dismal tally of 28 in 2012.

However, the most startling feature was the victory of BJP in constituencies with a significant Muslim population of almost 25 percent, especially in western UP districts.

Erstwhile, Muslims have been reckoned as a monolithic voting bloc, one that votes tactically to keep BJP from power, since the outfit is perceived as communal by the community.

In successive poll, minorities have predominantly aligned with Samajwadi Party (SP), although a section of voters also support Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Together, dalits and Muslims constitute 40 percent of the UP population, which makes them an attractive bloc for parties of all hues, especially to so called ‘secular’ camps.

In run up to the 2017 poll, the opposition had dismissed the euphemistic ‘Modi wave’ that had earlier helped BJP win the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. Besides, the parties were hoping demonetisation would work against Modi due to the hardships faced by the people over cash squeeze and loss of livelihood.

In this backdrop, there was a perception that minorities votes could get divided between SP and BSP in the triangular UP contest. Yet, no pollster or political pundit could crystal gaze that Muslims could vote for the Saffron outfit.

The opposition parties had tried hard to woo minorities, while handing out covert and overt warning to the community against the prospects of BJP winning UP poll.

In fact, no one could conclusively fathom the undercurrent of growing support for Modi among dalits and a section of Muslims, especially women folks. This section apparently was looking forward to more than mere tokenism and words of sympathy by their political masters.

The distribution of millions of free gas connections by the Modi government had already altered the rules of the game at the grassroots without giving any outward indications.

Such beneficiaries included poor Muslim and dalit households as well, who had transformed into mute supporters for Modi, while mainstream media and senior editors kept writing from the portals of their newsrooms or taking opinion from equally clueless political pundits and pollsters.

At the same time, BJP had taken a tough stance on ‘triple talaq’, one which was quite different from that of the ‘secular’ brigade for the fear of angering the clergy. The perceptible pro-Muslim women stand endeared BJP among the Muslim women, especially belonging to the poor background.

The ground reality is, and fortunately so, Muslims are now rejecting tokenism and want to redress the tougher challenges of employment opportunities. They are ready to give BJP a chance and forge a relationship of trust.

The hitherto narrative of the opposition to tar BJP and Modi with communalism has failed and is unlikely to recoup anytime soon.

The overt attempts by the opposition to woo minorities had also resulted in counter-polarisation transcending dalits, forward castes and backward castes (BC) in favour of BJP.

For long, Muslims have seen BJP and particularly Modi through an angled vision, primarily due to the negative portrayal by their opponents for political capital.

The days of playing the secular card seem numbered for good and the minorities have decided to move on.