Religious hypocricy and political expression - Part 1

Tales of late self realisation to a naive political observer

 

Not sure what's running though the minds of people who have been following the Maharashtra Civic Polls 2017. I was quaintly surprised at the emergence of BJP as a front runner in this.

What have people voted for? - The candidates, their ideology, their past performance, or the expectations of a better future? Or is there something more latent - like hope, ambition, aspirations, or negative emotions like discontent, feeling of oppression, dejection etc.?

To unravel this, I do not have access to the statistics that the  psepologists refer to, nor have I been a keen observer of past trends.

But I've been able to put together some basic data and understand BJP's performance in various elections since they won legislative elections in 2014.

In more or less every election involving a civil body or a legislative bye-election, held in India since 2014, BJP has improved its vote share if not emerging with a majority. I'm avoiding Delhi and certain states that have bucked the trend since the overwhelming data seems to suggest a BJP wave. (Civic polls in Odisha, Rajasthan, bypolls in Assam, MP; political game of thrones in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim and so on...leading up to the Maharashtra local body elections)

So why am I surprised at this wave? I'm averse to blaming it on a fickle electorate as this will only make the democratic upheavals in the last 70 years untenable.

1. In many of the elections, BJP was the incumbent and in many they are the newly elected party. So, any broad generalizations of a political trend of anti-incumbency doesn't hold water.
2. After close to 70 years of democracy,  it should be common knowledge that the extent of malice in  various political parties are mostly the same. Yet, how is it that the voters are expecting a major overhaul in governance with BJP?
3. The gains of BJP needs to been seen in context of the continuous decimation of the Indian National Congress. If I assume the scandals of the past and the absence of a strong central leadership as possible factors for the decapitation of Congress, how is it that regional parties are performing much better than the INC in these elections?
4.  The other parties who are giving BJP a fight are mostly regional or semi regional political outfits. Is it the beginning of a trend where there will only be one dominant national party at a given point of time and the second best alternative is a coalition? I've seen some opinions available in the net which point to this cycle.

To me, it occurs that more than an agenda at the level of a Zilla Parishad or municipality, there are some aspects of the over arching BJP narrative or leadership that is striking a chord with the people.

Calling (or 'trolling' as it is more fashionable) the supporters of this movement as "Bhakths" will only lead to more entertaining vocabulary entering public discourse from the other side.

The debate or the argument on public policies have also started splitting mid-way into binaries of whether you are with or against them (or 'him') and if it extends beyond this, it ends in caste or religious equations. Even more frustrating is when the public discourse seems to credit or discredit only the Prime Minister for all that's happening to the Executive, Judiciary, Legislative bodies including your own constipation. (even it states not ruled by BJP)
With the debilitating standards of media reportage and biased opinions on social media, both coming with its tail of 'whataboutery' and trolls, it indeed gets cloudy when one starts looking for possible answers.


My inquisition will continue.