There Is No ‘Them’—Only ‘Us’. Then Why Does Indian Politics Say Otherwise?
The BJP’s sweeping victories everywhere raise a question. For those who believe in secular ideals, this is a matter of concern. By leveling various allegations against the BJP and casting its one-sided victories into a zone of doubt, a kind of self-consolation is achieved — that it is merely a coincidence, or the result of a little carelessness or a mistake.
But in reality, it is the BJP alone that remains visible on the ground for the entire five years. All organizations aligned with the BJP, every worker, the IT cell, the media, and so on — this entire machinery continues to work for five full years according to the BJP’s policies and agenda.
The BJP’s biggest policy, the one that ensures its victories and makes elections easier for it, is the policy of “us versus them.” The BJP has placed Muslims in the category of “them,” and under the label of Hindu, it has grouped everyone else into the category of “us.” Yes, Christians are treated differently.
For the entire five years, it is clearly visible that under the policy of “us versus them,” the BJP’s Prime Minister, all Chief Ministers, everyone from the high command down to the lowest-level grassroots worker, remains engaged in this work. By celebrating, adopting, and projecting festivals, customs, rituals, civilizational, cultural, and religious occasions in an exaggerated manner, they try to place everyone together on one side under the category of “us.”
By nurturing hatred against Muslims, portraying them as a threat, presenting them as outsiders and anti-nationals, they place Muslims in the category of “them” and work to isolate them. These actions are not carried out only during elections; rather, they are performed continuously throughout all five years.
These days, what we see is that major festivals are being celebrated on an even larger scale, with even greater pomp and grandeur, while at the same time special emphasis is being placed on observing and celebrating even the smallest festivals, customs, and rituals. All of this serves the purpose of asserting the supremacy of Hindu civilization, religion, and ideology, gathering people around it, and uniting them under “us.”
And this is no longer confined merely to religious activities; these have now also become political activities. The BJP’s real success lies in the fact that it has managed to mold religious activities themselves into a political structure.
Similarly, all forms of hatred directed against Muslims — whether it is mob lynching of Muslims, bulldozer actions against their homes and shops, their mosques and madrasas, hate speeches against them, attacks on their trade and livelihoods, physical assaults on them, or the misuse of law to tighten a legal noose around their institutions, organizations, scholars and leaders, Muslim social activists and students — all of this serves to portray them as enemies, to place them in the category of “them,” and to show them as being against “us.”
And whether elections are taking place or not, these actions are visible throughout the five years; in fact, for the BJP machinery, these are no longer isolated actions but have become continuous activities.
Under the firm certainty of “us versus them,” the BJP does not give party tickets to Muslims. Rather, even the old Muslim leaders within the party have been sidelined, so that it can be fully conveyed that the BJP is the sole party of “us,” and that all other parties either belong to “them” or lack the purity that the BJP possesses.
This alone is the essence of the BJP’s electoral strategy, which today stands as the central pillar of BJP politics — and it is precisely here that a breach needs to be made. The entire structure will collapse on its own.
If the Congress wants to ensure its victory in the country, it will have to transform itself from merely a political party into an intellectual and ideological movement, as it once was — ideologically secular, a voice of secularism, the party that laid the foundation of secularism in independent India, and one that struggled for the survival of secularism.
But today’s Congress appears only as a political party. Being active only during elections, being active during assembly and parliamentary sessions, and working solely to form a government — this is what the Congress has been reduced to.
The Congress and all its members have confined themselves to a casual and purely formal style of politics. In contrast, the BJP is an intellectual and ideological movement with its own objectives and goals, and every person associated with it remains active and mobilized to achieve them.
Defeating the BJP is not that difficult. The Congress only needs to make a single hole in the central pillar of the BJP’s politics of “us versus them.” By speaking openly against the oppression and injustice being inflicted on Muslims, by raising its voice against the excesses committed against them, and by openly expressing its stand in the struggle for their rights, the Congress must convey that there is absolutely no contest of “us” versus “them” in this country. Rather, there is no existence of any “them” at all. There is only “us” in this country, and every person living here is included in “us,” regardless of caste, community, religion, or class.
The Congress believes that supporting Muslims upsets Hindus, or will upset them. This is absolutely true. In today’s hateful political environment, if the Congress speaks for Muslims only with elections in mind, Hindus will inevitably move toward the BJP — because for five full years the BJP remains engaged in proving exactly this: that Hindus are “us,” and that the BJP alone is the party of “us.”
The Congress will have to remain active for the entire five years. For five full years, it must continue working to declare everyone as “us.” Whether elections are taking place or not, whether it wins elections or not, the Congress must work every single day on its fundamental objective — that everyone in the country is equal, that the country is secular, and that division in the name of religion is unacceptable.
This must be turned into a continuous five-year-long activity. By openly supporting Muslims, it must send the message that Muslims are not separate from “us,” that they too are a part of “us.” Certainly, this message will not be accepted immediately, but through continuous struggle and sustained effort, it can be made acceptable. This is not something impossible.
After all, this was the very mission of the Congress — that our country would not be like Pakistan, dominated by a single religion; that there would be no division among people in the name of religion; that the country would be secular, that secularism would prevail, and that its people would be secular. Then why is the Congress today running away from working for the survival and supremacy of these fundamental ideals?
The Congress’s role was, and remains, the promotion and preservation of these basic principles, yet today the Congress appears to be occupied only with failed attempts at forming governments. Even if these foundational ideals are laid to rest, even if hatred spreads among people in the name of religion, the Congress seems confined merely to ceremonial and hobbyist politics.
The day the Congress rises to reclaim these foundational ideals of its own existence and of the country’s formation, that day the process of prying open the central pillar of the BJP’s hateful politics of “us versus them” will begin.
And even if the Congress has to face defeat in some elections along the way, within a few years its journey toward victory will begin — and soon the fortress of the BJP’s politics of hate will collapse.
