After U.P

THE BJP HAS emerged as the nation-al consensus in a time of post-iden-tity politics, with the NDA footprint now covering 17 states, collectively accounting for two-thirds of India’s population.

- Bhavdeep Kang

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while accused of demagoguery, polarising narratives and reactionary populism, appears to have presented a diametric vision to the electorate: of communities melded into an overarching Indian identity rather than stratified into clamouring interest groups shaped by perceived or real oppression. Therein lies the source of his moral authority.

The Congress and socialists have long subscribed to liberal dogma which holds majority concerns as weightless, equates nationalism with unprincipled majoritarianism and finds the manifestly liberal notion of a Uniform Civil Code somehow illiberal. They may now redraft their playbook to go beyond the rhetoric of religion and caste.

Modi is attempting an alternate liberal narrative based on positives, unimpeded by a manufactured standard of political correctness which lauds diversity but demands conformity. It is this, more than the expansion of the BJP in the states and local bodies in Maharashtra and Odisha, which signals a significant political shift.

The method in the apparent madness of appointing Hindutva poster boy Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of UP may thus be seen in two ways. First, which worked well for Modi in Gujarat, by ensuring caste consolidation behind the BJP. Second, it defuses the firebrand politician by putting him to work. Young, feisty and popular in eastern UP, he is now under pressure to deliver on the Modi agenda of development, law and order and meeting the aspirations of the youth.