by Nilofar Suhrawardy
The annual pilgrimage of Hindus, known as Kanwar Yatra, began this year on July 22 and shall continue till August 2. During this, thousands of young men carry earthen pots, with water from River Ganga back to their villages and towns. The pilgrimage ends with their offering the water to their Lord/deity Shiva on August 2. Just before Yatra began this year, directives issued by certain political leaders raised a controversy. This was linked to their asking shop-owners along the route of the Yatra to display their names. The opposition leaders protested strongly against it and allies of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also opposed the order. Petitions were filed before the Supreme Court by activists and Mahua Moitra (Opposition Member of Parliament from Trinamool Congress Party) challenging the order as “discriminatory.” In response, the apex court stayed the order on July 22 and asked the shop keepers only to display the kind of food served by them. The apex court’s interim order issued notices to state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, which had passed the “nameplate” order.
Politically, socially and also economically there seems to be no logic behind the order given in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh as per which shop owners were to reveal their names and details in front of their shops along the Kanwar Yatra route. What did this really imply? Normally camps are set up along the route by voluntary organizations to provide food, water, shelter and medical aid to pilgrims. In essence, this limits chances of pilgrims using their funds to purchase from other shops. Nevertheless, it is apparently assumed that the decision aimed to prevent pilgrims from purchasing shops owned probably by Muslims and lower castes. Well, there is no guarantee that shops owned by non-Muslims, by Hindus may not have a few Muslims as their employees. So, irrespective of who owns the shops, workers there may belong to different religious and caste communities.
How were illiterate pilgrims expected to understand who were they purchasing from? Besides, as indicated earlier, many of these tend to make use of services offered by voluntary organizations. Assuming that this order primarily targeted shop owners along religious lines, the possibility of it causing economic loss to all linked with these shops, irrespective of their religion, cannot be ignored.
The judicial notice, reservations of BJP’s allies and stand taken by INDIA-bloc as well as its ally TMC’s opposition against display of shop owner’s name may be viewed as just a minor indicator of greater trouble that BJP is likely to face in the coming days. Clearly, neither its allies nor opposition leaders may be expected to remain quiet observers to apparently communal strategies being tried by BJP with eye probably on forthcoming assembly polls.
BJP’s dependence on its allies to stay in power at the center makes it all more imperative for this party to revise its strategy of banking on its so-called “religious” cards. Not only is BJP is heading a coalition government, Congress-led opposition enjoys much stronger political standing than before. There is little doubt that Prime Minister Modi is going to face a stormy term. Everything is not going to go as he and his extremist, right-winged associates, particularly with communal bend, desire. If that had totally appealed to Indian voters, recent parliamentary electoral results would have been different. Rather, electoral results may be viewed as a strong lesson and also a warning for those pinning hopes of political gains from communal designs. Considering that BJP secured less than 40 percent votes in 2014 as well as 2019 elections, it would not be wrong be assume that similar message was conveyed then too. The same was the case when BJP-led coalition government, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister suffered defeat in 2004 elections following the Gujarat-carnage (2002).
Undeniably, time and again, voters have acted quite shrewdly. If they had not, they certainly would have been fooled by certain politicians’ communal rhetoric. Give it a thought from another angle. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of INDIA-bloc would not have emerged as a strong force without voters’ shrewd support. Irrespective of whether there was ever a Modi-wave or not, the failure of cards tried by him for return to power with greater strength than before in recent polls signals voters’ refusal to be convinced by communal strategies tried by him and his associates.
Paradoxically, BJP and its saffron associates still remain “confident” about political “appeal” of their strategies based on religious as well as communal moves. It is also strange that voters’ message marked by electoral results doesn’t appear to have been as yet fully comprehended by BJP-stalwarts. If it was, the directive calling for display of names by shop-keepers wouldn’t have been issued. What is also worth taking note is that owners of shops, dhabas and vendors along the route don’t hail from highly affluent classes. Their owners and/or employees belong primarily to poor sections. Economically as well as socially, these are sections who represent the majority in the country. There are numerous cases of employers and employees in the same shops belonging to different religions. Hitting them through directives- such as display of shop owners’ name plates- amounts to stabbing at their sources of earning and that too just a little before the yatra was scheduled to begin. The apex court’s notice restraining the order certainly spells a major relief for many who had almost lost their primary source of income.
Notwithstanding efforts and money spend by BJP-stalwarts ahead of parliamentary elections to display their “religious” or rather use their apparently religious cards, this strategy failed to click as is evident by failure of BJP to return with a majority. But the step taken recently by BJP in three states, which was stayed by Supreme Court, implies that the party still appears to be banking on its communal card. This would have carried some political significance if voters’ verdict in recent parliamentary elections had not spelt a major setback for BJP. But the party still seems to be guiding its moves by what it has viewed as its key political card, particularly the anti-Muslim communal strategy. These bear little significance if they don’t appeal to the majority and cause the latter to react angrily as was visible recently when the directive regarding shop owners’ name was issued. Yes, religion does matter for Indians at large but so does their means of earning.
Communal polarization along social differences- religion, caste or any other- is least to spell political gains if the same leads to and/or enhances economic sufferings of people at large, particularly those who constitute majority in the country, economically. These are the poor. It is their numerical significance that adds to political credibility of their votes, which does not rely on religious/communal rhetoric of politicians. Some politicians and even parties still haven’t fully understood this message of voters.
With specific reference to Kanwar Yatras, strangely while issuing the controversial order regarding display of “name-plates,” apparently directed towards polarization along communal lines, little attention was paid to another aspect of this pilgrimage. The colorful Kanwars– made of bamboo and cloth, carried by young pilgrims on their shoulders have also been made by Muslim artisans for generations. Some Hindus prefer buying Kanwars from Muslims because of their quality. It is said that more than ninety percent of Kanwars used by pilgrims are made by Muslims. It is a major source of earning for Muslim artisans involved in making them. A number of Hindus and Muslims view this as a sign of “Hindu-Muslim” unity among them, a message still not comprehended totally by those bend on playing communal cards!