Does Modi confidant Amit Shahs trip to Ayodhya signal a return to Hindutva in Uttar Pradesh?
On its part, the BJP is doing everything in its power to quell the fear of the Muslim voter. While leaders like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are saying that the party is trying to reach out to Muslims and is preparing a vision document to allay their fears, the strategists of the party are also keeping a close eye on the fallout of the Muslim appeasement to both the SP and the Congress. According to party insiders, a close watch is being maintained in districts and places that have witnessed communal riots in the past year-and-a-half.
The fact that over 100 small and big communal riots have taken place during the SP regime has given the saffron party a reason to see a potential of social engineering in those areas. The party feels that an aggressive campaign might lead to an increase in its current tally.
The general impression on the ground is that both Yadavs and Muslims have suffered under the rule of Akhilesh Yadav, says a BJP leader in Lucknow. There is unease among the upper castes, which voted for the SP, and we could end up gaining this time.
Moreover, the party is also trying to aggressively counter the Muslim-friendly policies of the SP. It feels that issues like seeking closure of cases against Muslim youths lodged in jail for alleged terror activities, money being given to girls from Muslim community for marriages and other things provides a window of opportunity for them to convince upper caste voters of how despite voting for the SP, they are at the receiving end now.
With Rajnath Singh also from Uttar Pradesh, if the party is able to swing some of the Rajput votes, this could reap rich dividends in the state. It could also help them defeat the SP and BSPs efforts to woo the Brahmin community by offering them 20-plus seats.
But the actual challenge to Modi and Shah in decoding Uttar Pradesh will not be in reviving Hindutva or wooing the Muslim voter; it will come from within the party. The party organisation is in a shambles and there are more leaders than cadres. According to a close aide of Shah, both men understand the importance of putting a unified structure before attempting to achieve the impossible. They are aware of the importance of this chance and its implication on their future. Also, Modi has been a sangathan mantri (chief organiser) in the past, and so he is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the state unit.
The overwhelming feeling within the party is that the state BJP has a tired and tested leadership, which needs massive rejuvenation, before they can actually march towards the dream figure of trebling their current holding.
One thing working in Modis favour is that state leaders are aware of his reputation as a leader who neither forgets nor forgives, and it is this fear that will make them toe his line. How effective the strategy of fear proves to be, though, will only become apparent after the polls. Second-rung leaders like Varun Gandhi and Uma Bharti can be good assets, although with Shah as boss, what say the others will have in campaigning and candidate selection decisions remains to be seen.
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Political observers are also aware that one of the reasons Modis candidacy is being talked about a lot is because he is an OBC. Elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have always meant that much of the political narrative is written on caste lines. The BJP will remember the recent example of Bihar, where after the split with the JD(U), the state unit did not mention Narendra Modi as a shining example of governance but as the son of a tea stall owner, an OBC who was denied his due. The significance of this was not lost on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who did not lose any time in retorting that just being born an OBC does not entitle one to become their leader.
The Muslim elite, however, feel that even without Modi contesting from Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is already working towards a communal polarisation of the voters in the state. According to Peerzada Ahmed Salim Khan, president of the Parcham Party, The process is already on. All contentious issues like Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and the temple at Ayodhya are back. The BJP will do all in its power to create communal rift, but it wont be able to do much.
The other strategy the party is working on in Uttar Pradesh is to focus on those seats where the margin of loss was less than 50,000 votes. There are 10 such seats in the state, and in six of these, the margin of loss is less than 30,000 votes.
Apart from this, the party is also eyeing the 17 Lok Sabha seats reserved for the scheduled castes. In 2009, the BJP won only two seats out of the 17, but in past parliamentary elections, the party had retained as many as 15 seats. The view in the party is that with hardwork and smart candidate selection, they can reverse the tide in 2014.
The question therefore remains: will the mix of aggressive Hindutva and good governance, with a dash of caste, work for the BJP? A senior party leader summed up the real fear thus: If we dont get good results this time, not even Lord Ram can save us from decimation.
Source:
The Modi-Shah game plan in UP | Tehelka.com - Part 2
![[Bregs]](/data/avatars/m/148/148509.jpg?1491816884){kind=avatar}
You realized it now only? It deviated from the path when Indira madam added the word "secular" in the constitution.. From there own its downward slope 
