If Narendra Modi is called India’s Great Polarizer then his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah is Uttar Pradesh’s Polarizer. The battle for the crown in Delhi will be fought in the dusty plains of Uttar Pradesh. By giving the reigns of UP’s electoral campaign to Shah, Modi and the BJP leadership had made its game plan clear—to revive Ram Janmabhoomi politics in the state as Modi gears up to pursue an unabashed Hindu agenda. Uttar Pradesh, with 80 Lok Sabha seats is important for the BJP in 2014, and Shah’s performance in the state is crucial for Modi after the general elections. Addressing a gathering of Hindu sadhus in Ayodhya on Saturday after offering prayers at the makeshift Ram temple on the disputed site, Shah promised to build the Ram temple. His posture was a calculated mix of good governance and aggressive Hindutva, which he along with his mentor Modi has come to represent.
“I came to visit the Ram temple which is a centre of faith for crores of Hindus from around the world. After worshipping here I have prayed that good governance is established in the country and the nation gets rid of the Congress. I have also prayed that together we build a grand Ram temple here as soon as possible and restore Lord Ram to his rightful place,” said the 49-year-old former stock broker who is fighting for the Hindu vote share from UP on his boss’s behalf. The thrust of his argument reflects his ideology: in Ayodhya, Shah attacked the ruling Samajwadi Party government for promising quota to the Muslims. He said this would eat up the OBC quota of the Hindu OBCs.
Ironically, Shah’s actions in UP seems to signal Modi’s break with the BJP’s past. In his speech Shah did not name Atal Bihari Vajpayee or L K Advani even once—an omission that is a habit. When he had visited Lucknow—Vajpayee’s consitutency—on May 26, he dropped both leaders from his speeches, preferring to focus on Modi alone. This time, the posters and banners in the temple town signalled the shift: these featured only the trio of Rajnath Singh, Modi and Amit Shah; Vajpayee and Advani were missing. However, Shah’s popularity in UP is not guaranteed—at his meetings, the BJP cadre is not present in full force. This time when he visited the Ram Lala site, missing were the spirited cries of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ that was the standard slogan of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The entourage was top heavy: BJP state leaders including the state president Laxmikant Bajpai, Lalji Tandon and Vinay Katiyar accompanied Shah to Ayodhya.
Interestingly, Modi had avoided visiting Ayodhya on the invitation of the VHP as many felt it would have instantly reinforced his Hindutva image. Instead Shah appears to be taking forward the same agenda. “There is no denying that Shah has a blank cheque from Modi and any of his decisions would be considered as bearing the Modi stamp,” observed a party secretary. Shah will be moving on to Gorakhpur on Sunday. Sources say that his Ayodhya visit would soon be followed by one by Modi; and the temple issue would be revived.
The Congress has reacted sharply to Shah’s visit describing it as a “crude bid by the BJP to communalise the atmosphere to win votes”. Senior Congress leader Pramod Tewary asked UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh Yadav to ban Shah’s entry into the state. To counter Shah’s aggressive Hindu image, that Congress appointed a Gujarati with left liberal leanings, Madhusudan Mistry, as party in charge in UP.
With a controversial past, Amit Shah will be a polarising figure in the state elections. He is currently on bail in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case in which Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly killed during this encounter in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in 2005, when Shah was the Gujarat Home Minister. According to CBI, Shah was ‘kingpin’ in the case. After spending three months in jail, he was granted bail but asked to stay out of Gujarat. He was allowed in after the case was moved to Mumbai. Though, the recent chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan case did not name him, but questiones have been raised if he knew about the encounter. The case’s shadow is likely to follow him everywhere as Ishrat was killed when Shah was home minister.
Shah emerged out of political hibernation after BJP president Rajnath Singh appointed him as general secretary in March—reportedly at Modi’s behest—a key post in the part hierarchy and in charge of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in May, this year. It is evident that the BJP in Uttar Pradesh would not be seeking votes in the name of Modi’s development agenda; it may not be entirely successful in a state like UP where caste sentiments run very strong. Unlike many other states, in UP caste remains a dominant factor in electoral politics.
It is obvious that the BJP, which has been out of mainstream politics in UP since over a decade, needs an issue that would charge up the atmosphere in its favour and enthuse demoralized cadres. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, it won only 10 seats and has been in continuous decline.