BJP to play ‘Hindutva’ card in state?

The victory of the BJP in four of the five states which went to polls, has come as a shot in the arm for the state unit which is likely to adopt a pro-Hindutva and pro-development agenda in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly polls as was done in Uttar Pradesh.

Playing the ‘Hindutva’ card is likely to result in the polarization of votes and till recently, the BJP was in a dilemma whether this would fetch them support in the biggest state of the country with the Samajwadi Party and Congress playing the minority card. But with UP voters giving a big thumbs up to the five-year rule of Yogi Adityanath and his strident Hindutva stance, these doubts have been settled.

A senior BJP leader of Karnataka told News Trail that the results in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand have shown that the best way to draw votes and win polls was to harp on development and Hindutva. He cited the example of Manipur where people voted for the BJP because of the slew of developmental initiatives in the hill state which had felt neglected all these years.

In Uttar Pradesh, CM Yogi benefited from a series of development projects in the last five years and the Hindutva card too. The launch of construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, one of the poll promises made by the BJP, also helped in the consolidation of votes.

Taking a cue from this, in Karnataka too, the government led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is likely to push through a series of developmental works in the next 12 months to garner the support of urban voters.

The focus is likely to be on performance rather than seek votes all the time in the name of PM Modi and Bommai may start touring the state to accelerate the growth process.