For BJP, Shaheen Bagh is the new Balakot and Pakistan

The venom and the viciousness with which BJP leaders have turned on women protestors at Shaheen Bagh can only be explained in the context of the Delhi Assembly election. No election speech of BJP leaders is complete without demonising the women there. Indeed, Shaheen Bagh has become the new Balakot as one leader after another BJP leader harps on the threat to national security allegedly posed by the women who are demanding the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, that links citizenship to religion. Their suspicion is that this is a veiled first step towards disenfranchising and worse, disempowering the Muslims. But the BJP sees a conspiracy and has been exhorting voters of Delhi to choose between the country on the one hand and Shaheen Bagh on the other. It would have been ridiculous but for the utmost seriousness with which the campaign has been launched. The BJP is back to its basics and is doing what it does best — polarising people on religious lines and driving an imaginary line between patriots and traitors. Unfortunately, neither the judiciary nor the Election Commission are today strong enough to pull them up when the Union Home Minister speaks of getting rid of Shaheen Bagh or when Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur leads the chant to shoot ‘traitors’ or when a BJP leader declares that protestors would soon vandalise houses and molest women.

Significantly, till a few weeks ago, the BJP was nowhere in the contest in Delhi. A triangular contest between the AAP, the BJP and the Congress would in any case have made the contest close. But the prospect, real or remote, of losing the election in the national capital is something that is clearly unpalatable to the BJP. It would not only be a loss of face for the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, who are driving the party’s campaign, but would cause the party even greater embarrassment after losing power in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. It had after all won all the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi barely nine months ago. Unfortunately for the BJP, it has little to showcase, barring the Ram Temple, Article 370 and the so-called ‘Tukde-Tukde gang’ which it seems to find in every nook and corner. The economy is in a mess. Unemployment is high. Food inflation is hogging headlines and the government’s mismanagement of its finances and the economy is now drawing international attention. Nor has it succeeded in developing a credible and responsible set of local leaders in Delhi. But while the BJP’s desperation to win in Delhi is evident, what is not so obvious is whether the party realises it is playing with fire; that for short-term electoral gains, it is risking a more widespread and long-drawn unrest. Its inability to develop a consensus and engage with citizens is glaring. Its lack of grace is appalling. Must protestors then suspend the agitation and lose the momentum in the process to keep the BJP away from mischief? It is difficult for a leaderless mass movement to take such a decision. But the possibility of police action before the Delhi election or more insidious attempts to disrupt and discredit the protest is both real and frightening. One can only pray for better sense to prevail.