The Hindutva brigade ruling India since 2014 is keen to win state legislative elections in Bihar due by November next. That is understandable, considering the BJP has been unable to win previous elections in Bihar and has consequently been obliged to govern by forming coalitions with other parties in the third most populous state of India.
The BJP-led government in New Delhi has, of late, initiated new steps to disenfranchise Muslim voters with barely three months left for the crucial state elections. What is even more alarming is the news that Bihar will be only the start of a new campaign to deny the Muslim electors their right to vote.
The modus operandi involves requiring voters to prove their Indian citizenship by presenting documentary proof of their Indian nationality. This exercise in Bihar is to be replicated nationwide across a country of 1.4 billion people.
According to the Election Commission of India, an intensive revision of the electoral lists was needed in part to avoid the inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants, without explaining how they got fraudulently enrolled in the first place.
The BJP’s failure to secure a clear majority in the 2024 general elections has resulted in efforts to employ new tactics to deny the opposition voters access to the ballot stations by any means. It does not come as a surprise that critics of the new discriminatory measures have pointed out that the exercise could render vast numbers of Indian citizens unable to vote. A prominent Muslim legislator, Asaduddin Owaisi, says that people are being asked to produce documents that very few voters have.
Why is the upcoming state election in Bihar so important? In the fragmented politics of Bihar, where no party or alliance has a decisive edge, PM Modi is exerting his energies to score a victory over the opposition. He rushed to Bihar after the terror attack in Pahalgam to address a political rally, threatening revenge on Pakistan. Political observers see the state election as a test of Modi's popularity with ramifications for other electoral battles at the state level before the next general election, due in 2029.
Bihar is an important battleground, and the electoral result there can have repercussions in other areas, such as West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Assam, where state elections are scheduled for 2026.
The BJP’s eleven-year rule at the centre has achieved mixed results. India remains the fastest-growing major economy. However, the corporate sector has become dominant, resulting in the concentration of wealth with growing income disparities, particularly in rural areas. The rulers appear to have abandoned socialism and secularism. This is an area where the opposition parties can take the ruling alliance to task. There are signs of a power struggle within the BJP ranks over the succession of Modi. He had suggested the age limit of 75 for the prime minister, a mark he is reported to reach by September next.
What does India's domestic political scenario portend for its neighbours, especially Pakistan? No reason for hope as the Hindutva-laden neighbourhood policies are aimed at achieving regional hegemony rather than harmony and cooperation. A BJP victory in the state election, though an internal matter, could have ramifications for India's regional approach.
It is time for India to draw a balance sheet of its penchant to dominate and seek tension-free relations with its neighbours. Over time, India has become a significant importer of high-tech weaponry. A combination of ideology and hubris led the Indian leadership to unleash military aggression against Pakistan. If India attacks across the frontiers to avenge a terror attack, it should do some soul searching over far more frequent similar attacks in Pakistan.
It is yet another irony that India wants to have a dialogue with Pakistan only about cross-border terrorism. New Delhi ought to recognise that any such meeting would also enable Pakistan to present dossiers about India's persistent backing of terrorism in Pakistan. It may be time to hold direct talks to resolve this thorny issue, thereby charting a path to defuse tensions and improve relations between the two countries.
In the present circumstances, any hope of the BJP government reviewing its policies may be futile. It may be recalled that Narendra Modi had planned a three-pronged attack on Muslims. They were to be marginalised and persecuted in India, systematically suppressed in the occupied territories of Jammu and Kashmir, combined with a boycott of Pakistan, the symbol of Muslim aspirations in general.
These have been the guiding tenets of the Modi-led government in Delhi. They were followed to the hilt as the world looked away, hoping to forge closer ties with the world's most populous country and a rising economy. Everything was hunky dory while Modi posed as a strategic partner of the US, a privileged interlocutor of Europe, a founder member of BRICS and an aspiring leader of the Global South.
Something went wrong. Operation Sindoor was unleashed to establish India's military dominance over Pakistan, an ambition that lay in tatters after four days. India hastened to claim that the operation was not called off, only paused. And the world is wondering if the pause is literal or metaphorical.
To Modi: You have drilled your hate mantra against the Muslims and Pakistan into the Indian psyche. Why not try something different that will bring down tensions in the region and allow free circulation of goods and people, including the exchange of sportsmen and artists?
The writer can be reached at: saeed.saeedk@gmail.com
