BJP

BJP – It competes with the Congress in lowering its public opinion

The BJP seeks to portray itself as a credible alternative to the Congress in large chunks of the country (but cannot really match the Congress in the breadth of coverage all over the country where it is politically relevant). For that purpose, the BJP seeks to show itself as a non-dynastic and non-corrupt party, a party to look upto. However, events keep on happening that show the BJP in a bad way, and which depict the party as a party that is like any other party. The corruption shown by the party in the important southern state of Karnataka ended up tarnishing the image of the party all over India, and gave all the other parties a strong factor to push the party down. Similarly, the impression of corruption in the party affected the Government in the northern state of Uttarakhand, where the party had to remove the Chief Minister and bring in Khanduri, as a last ditch effort to try and restore some of the reputation of the party before the elections. And dissension is something that is worrying the party in all the states where it is in power (and in many other states as well where it would have liked to present a united front in order to wrest power in these states).
Another such episode happened recently in the state of Karnataka. The state has been in the news for several acts of moral strictness, where there has been a push against any kind of immoral act. This included even innocent events where couples would have gathered for Valentine’s Day, or in parks, etc. And of course, this includes other ‘amoral’ stuff as dancing in pubs, or having dancers in bars; there were even comments by one of the Government ministers that since women do not dress properly, they incite rape attempts on them. When attacks on couples or people indulging in any of these ‘amoral’ activities are carried out, the Government does not respond to the safety of citizens.
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The whole drama about reservations for Muslims and its politics – primarily in Uttar Pradesh

For the past few days, in addition to the many caste calculations going on in the UP electoral scene, there is another twist that has been added to the whole discourse. This is related to political parties trying to attract the Muslim vote and what they can do for it. Now, getting support from a community is not a problem, but doing it only for electoral purposes and at the time of elections continues to be a problem, especially when it is so blatant.
A series of reports over the years have concluded that Indian muslims over the years have a level of development which is lower than that of the general population, and nobody can really doubt these conclusions. Further, over the years, a number of trades that had traditionally a higher proportion of Muslims (such as weavers) were affected by economic movements, further reducing the economic growth of the community. These were items that the Governments of the day should have handled, with targeted economic and development measures that laid a lot of emphasis on economic development that would increase the empowerment level of Muslims in the country.
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BJP going against it’s anti-corruption campaign – inducting accused politicians for the UP polls

The BJP keeps on trying to portray itself as a party that is totally against corruption, very different from the corrupt practices of the Congress and other parties. As a part of this, the party has sought to put itself as the main supporter of the Lokpal campaign, and had sought a strong Lokpal so that an institution to stop the endemic corruption in Government can be put in place. But, from time to time, the BJP also takes steps that immediately portrays the party as being opportunistic and forces those looking for an alternative to the Congress to re-think.
We saw this in the whole drama in Karnataka. It was quite clear for some time that the Yeddyurappa Government in the state was corrupt, indulging in many corrupt practices. And the state of Karnataka was critical for the aims of the BJP in South India, a part of the country where the BJP does not really have much of a presence in terms of electoral seats (either in the state assembly or Parliament). And yet, what the BJP accomplished in Karnataka was drastically opposite to all this, with the party getting a name for having a high degree or corruption; and even when this was recognized, the party was unable to change the Chief Minister who was the embodiment of this corruption.
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