Justice Markandey Katju
The Prime Minister and some other BJP leaders may talk a lot of ‘Sab ka saath, sabka vikaas (inclusive development),’ but the truth is that the BJP can never be really tolerant, because becoming tolerant would be committing suicide for the BJP.
The reason for this is that the BJP vote bank is the upper caste Hindu voters. But these, i.e. Brahmins, Rajputs, banias, bhumihars, etc, are altogether only about 16-17% of the total population in U.P. Bihar etc..
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One cannot win an election on only 16-17% votes. One needs at least 31-32% votes to win an election ( it is not necessary to get 50% because others are divided ).
So to win election the BJP must incite communal hatred and intolerance, to win votes of other Hindu castes, e.g. OBCs and SCs.
The secret of the rise of BJP seats in the Lok Sabha from 2 in 1984 to 183 in 1999 was the rath yatra of Advani and the Babri Masjid Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, all designed to stir up communal feelings, which they did.
So BJP leaders, think out some new strategy of arousing communal passions and hatred of minorities, otherwise you will again go back to 1984, i.e. ‘ punah mooshak bhav ‘
The author is a former Supreme Court judge and a renowned commentator on Indian politics. The views expressed here are the author’s own.