Against the backdrop of what is says are repeated instances of ‘minority appeasement’ by the UPA and its partners, the BJP plans to fall back on its brand of Hindutva politics for the Uttar Pradesh elections with active support from the RSS and the VHP even though rising inflation, one of the primary factors that helped the party win in Uttarakhand and Punjab, will continue to be the key issue in the polls.

BJP president Rajnath Singh said the BJP will make ‘minority appeasement’ a major election plank in Uttar Pradesh. “The UPA’s policy of appeasement does not benefit anyone,” he said. Two obvious points the party will make during the Uttar Pradesh campaign are: the erroneous basis of the Sachar Committee and the so-called Muslim headcount, and the special allocation for minorities in the Budget. Even though the Left parties do not have a major political influence in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP plans to highlight the points raised in the CPM’s charter for ‘Advancement of the Muslim Community’ as an instance of ‘blatant appeasement of Muslims’. Incidentally, Singh will be addressing the BJP’s Minority Morcha on Wednesday.

According to Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP’s spokesman in Parliament, the Congress and the Left had virtually discarded the term ‘minority’ and were using ‘Muslim’ in an effort to dip into the critical Muslim vote bank ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, while Ram Vilas Paswan had raised the demand for a Muslim chief minister in the state and the Samajwadi Party was practising divisive politics.

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