Pictures, as the adage goes, speak a thousand words. But what images convey need not be inspiring: their message can be chilling. The Republic, ostensibly a secular polity, was offered glimpses of two disturbing metaphors — one an image, the other a speech — that raise concerns about the survival of India as a pluralistic nation. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat unit uploaded a cartoon depicting a group of people — their skull caps and beards do not leave any doubts about their identity — hanging by a noose. This blatantly prejudicial picture came in the wake of a court sentencing 38 convicts to death for being involved in the Ahmedabad blasts in 2008. The prime minister did not desist from adding to the mischief. He took a dig at the Samajwadi Party, the BJP’s principal challenger in Uttar Pradesh, stating pointedly that the terrorists had planted bombs on bicycles; the bicycle happens to be the SP’s electoral symbol. What Narendra Modi attempted to do through this wink-and-nudge name-calling is to paint all Muslims as terrorists and the SP as a patron of this imagined adversary.
Given the alleged pusillanimity of institutions, it remains to be seen whether the prime minister’s jibe attracts the attention of the Election Commission of India. The EC’s model code of conduct debars politicians from pitting one community against the other, something that BJP leaders are known to do repeatedly during elections. The larger issue, however, is this. The BJP’s reliance on polarization is usually exacerbated by its failures in governance and in policy. UP, the most politically influential state among those at the hustings, is in churn on account of such livelihood issues as rising prices, unemployment, destruction of crops by stray cattle and agitating farmers. The BJP, understandably, is aiming to deflect attention from these concerns by raising its divisive pitch. The challenge for the BJP’s opponents would be to resist this diversionary tactic. Their campaigns should concentrate on not only these issues but also highlight Mr Modi’s unprecedented policy howlers on the economy and on national security. That Mr Modi’s core constituency remains enchanted with his hollow rhetoric reveals two things. First, India’s body politic lies severely divided as a result of the dissemination of a toxic ideology. Second, the outcomes of political contests are increasingly being decided by perception rather than reality. Neither of these can be assuring for a diverse, democratic India.
