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LalitKumar1878
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An interesting outcome of the Gujarat polls is that Congress won 18 of the constituencies where party president Rahul Gandhi made temple visits. During the campaign Rahul visited as many as 27 temples across Gujarat - including Somnath - in what was categorised as a soft Hindutva pitch to counter BJPs hard Hindutva. While BJP criticised this as a publicity stunt and even questioned Rahuls religion at one point, the strategy clearly paid off for Congress. It neutralised some of BJPs religion-based appeal and got voters to consider performance while casting their ballots.
To call Rahuls temple visits soft Hindutva is off the mark. Quite opposite to religious exclusivism and Hindutva, Hindu philosophy is an open source platform accepting of different interpretations and pluralism. Seen from this spiritual point of view, Rahul should feel perfectly comfortable visiting temples as well as spiritual places of minority religions. Secularism too has a spiritual component, and in that sense is closer to Hinduism rather than Hindutva because the former, unlike the latter, is inclusive and accepting of pluralism. But not engaging with Hinduism would be a mistake, as it would leave the field open for BJP to exploit and is likely to be monopolised by exclusivist and intolerant elements.
Rahul must take care, however, that his temple visits do not come to be seen as mere tokenism. Instead, they should be part of a larger spiritual journey exploring the nuances of Hinduism. He can take on mentors in this journey; someone like former president Pranab Mukherjee would be a good guide. But Rahul made a good start already when he said political opponents should be defeated with love, not hate. This is an excellent application of the Hindu principle - with analogues in other religions – that it is love which animates the universe.
The electoral imperative for reforms and growth, including agricultural growth, was writ large on the Gujarati battleground. The huge crowds that Hardik Patel drew were an index of young jobseekers disappointments. Deterioration of farm incomes enabled Congress to wrest several seats in rural Saurashtra. Such discontent will speak at polling booths in other states too, with Congress likely acting as the magnet for a diversity of voices protesting the Modi government’s economic underperformance.
At the same time polls from UP onwards have also proved Prime Minister Narendra Modi ability to market big-ticket economic moves. This must not be interpreted as licence for repeating misadventures like demonetisation, which caused agonising disruptions across the informal sector for uncertain ends. But it does mean that government has little reason to feel insecure about setting ambitious goals. Only a bold government can lead the kind of job creation India’s demographic bulge demands.
Old school placebos will not suffice. For example, instead of farm loan waivers and higher MSPs in agriculture, government has to focus on freeing farmers from restrictions imposed by state borders and marketing monopolies. On the job creation front, it should rewrite the licence raj era industrial code that prevents firms from retrenching workers or closing down without getting government approval. The Modi government must take full advantage of its last full budget in February 2018, to begin rolling out key reforms. And beware the temptation of a freebie drive, upsetting India’s hard-won macroeconomic stability.