Jharkhand Assembly elections | Uniform Civil Code, ‘Bangladeshi infiltration’, and other issues: how they resonated with voters

These efforts at mobilising voters on the basis of direct or implicit Hindutva had only limited rewards for the BJP in Jharkhand.

Hoping to exploit anti-incumbency sentiments against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and its allies, the BJP employed various arguments and strategies in its Jharkhand campaign. Among other things, the party sought to put the minorities in the dock and mobilise Hindus.

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In its manifesto for the State, the BJP promised a Uniform Civil Code expecting to attract Hindus. Right from the beginning of the campaign, speeches by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma focused on the issue of “Bangladeshi infiltrators”. It was argued that these infiltrators will occupy lands of the native people. The “Batenge toh katenge” slogan and reference to “Love Jihad” were also part of the BJP campaign.

While these issues obviously were not enough for winning a majority, it is nevertheless important to examine to what extent these issues resonated with the voters of Jharkhand.

In the Lokniti-CSDS survey, we find that four in 10 respondents had heard about the BJP promise of bringing the UCC. Among those aware of this issue, the BJP had a clear lead of 11 percentage points compared with voters who were unaware. Moreover, a large proportion of those aware also thought that this was an important issue and voted for the BJP in still larger numbers (55%).

On “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, the BJP assured that it would be more effective in handling the issue. This view was endorsed by over 40% of respondents. The BJP of course received greater support among them (61% among them voted for the BJP). However, both these efforts at mobilising voters on the basis of direct or implicit Hindutva had only limited rewards for the BJP in Jharkhand. At most, this may have helped the party in retaining a relatively robust vote share in spite its failure to defeat the incumbent.

Suhas Palshikar taught political science and is chief editor of Studies in Indian Politics

Published - November 26, 2024 02:15 am IST