Triple talaq: BJP to cash in for UP vote

The BJP is confident the Centre’s move on triple talaq will benefit the party in the coming Uttar Pradesh polls. Saffron strategists feel it will consolidate the Hindu votebank, including liberals and hardcore loyalists. They hope Hindu liberals, who are traditionally against the BJP, will see the move as a “progressive” one, while it will “energise” the Hindutva cadre.

The party also feels the move to challenge triple talaq will “confuse” the Muslim votebank. The BJP seems to be confident that blending triple talaq with nationalism will push it ahead in UP, though “the nation’s economy remains an area of concern”.

It is a do-or-die battle for the BJP in UP. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior UP BJP leader said with the country’s economy remaining an area of concern, the BJP had decided blend nationalism with triple talaq. With this, it has also tacitly brought in the issue of the Uniform Civil Code to centrestage. While nationalism will trigger “jingoistic feelings” in voters, it hopes, the triple talaq move may send a signal to Hindu liberals and intelligensia about the “progressive” credentials of this government. It was pointed out that Hindu liberals who saw the BJP pursuing a sectarian roadmap may change their views and find outfits opposing the move “were actually following the politics of sectarianism”.

BJP leaders feel the move will also get support from Muslim women voters and “confuse” the minority votebank. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will lead the campaign in UP, has already reached out to Muslims. Speaking at Kozhikode recently, he had said: “Muslims are neither a commodity in the vote market, nor an object of hatred, and should be considered as our own.”

As the political infighting rages in UP, the BJP hopes that Muslim votes will get split three ways between the BSP, SP and Congress. Earlier, the major chunk of the Muslim vote was with the SP. The BJP has already set in motion its gameplan to woo dalits in a big way by launching a series of dalits sammelans. “If there is a split in the Muslim votebank, and if we can eat into Ms Mayawati’s core votebank and consolidate the Hindu votebank, we will be forming the next government,” a senior BJP leader observed.