11-13-2011, 04:52 PM
Of late a section of the BJP leadership (particularly those who have tasted power at the Centre) has realised that to gain an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, it is necessary to cultivate the Muslim voters. Theoretically, it is possible to gain power with the support of Hindu voters. However, that is not practical as the Hindu voters are unlikely to vote for a single party.
An average Hindu voter has several alternatives before him and is generally guided by his own self interest in deciding whom to vote. In doing so, it is not necessary that religion will play a decisive role in the decision making process. The shortcomings of the BJP so far has been that it has most of the time given more importance to the religious aspect of the Hindu voter and has based its post election results on the same. This has resulted in serious disappointment, once the result is out. It also holds good for some of the senior members of this forum, whose prediction went wide off the mark during the last general elections.
For the BJP to come to power on its own, it needs to give a totally new direction to the party and should reflect the hopes and aspirations of the younger generation of the voters. One of the important deciding factors will be the progressive programs of the political party who can deliver progress, peace and prosperity.
Take the case of Gujarat, despite the negative publicity that Shri Mody has received all these years due to the communal riots, he is bound to win the elections in his own State hands down. Why?
The people of Gujarat, belonging to all religions have seen that he has been able to bring in development and progress with no corruption scandal around. Now it is not possible to repeat the same model all over India. Take the other extreme case of Karnataka, where the BJP Government and its leaders are facing several corruption and other scandals. In this case, many Hindu voters , leave aside Muslim voters will not be happy to vote for the BJP en mass.
It is high time that the BJP supporters stop thinking in terms of Hindu votes and Muslim votes as religion alone has ceased to be the sole deciding factor at the polls. The earlier this realisation comes in the mind of the BJP supporters , it will be better for the party.
An average Hindu voter has several alternatives before him and is generally guided by his own self interest in deciding whom to vote. In doing so, it is not necessary that religion will play a decisive role in the decision making process. The shortcomings of the BJP so far has been that it has most of the time given more importance to the religious aspect of the Hindu voter and has based its post election results on the same. This has resulted in serious disappointment, once the result is out. It also holds good for some of the senior members of this forum, whose prediction went wide off the mark during the last general elections.
For the BJP to come to power on its own, it needs to give a totally new direction to the party and should reflect the hopes and aspirations of the younger generation of the voters. One of the important deciding factors will be the progressive programs of the political party who can deliver progress, peace and prosperity.
Take the case of Gujarat, despite the negative publicity that Shri Mody has received all these years due to the communal riots, he is bound to win the elections in his own State hands down. Why?
The people of Gujarat, belonging to all religions have seen that he has been able to bring in development and progress with no corruption scandal around. Now it is not possible to repeat the same model all over India. Take the other extreme case of Karnataka, where the BJP Government and its leaders are facing several corruption and other scandals. In this case, many Hindu voters , leave aside Muslim voters will not be happy to vote for the BJP en mass.
It is high time that the BJP supporters stop thinking in terms of Hindu votes and Muslim votes as religion alone has ceased to be the sole deciding factor at the polls. The earlier this realisation comes in the mind of the BJP supporters , it will be better for the party.