As expected, the campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha election is becoming toxic as political parties engage in highly provocative religious campaigning. It all started when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an attack on the Congress, alleging that its poll manifesto bore the imprint of the Muslim League and that utterances of its leaders showed hostility towards national integrity and Sanatan Dharma. The Congress hit back, saying that the PM is scared over the prospect of the BJP struggling to cross the 180-seat mark in the Lok Sabha polls and has again resorted to the “same cliched Hindu-Muslim script.”
It has become a habit for the BJP to engage in religious politics, especially minority bashing, during elections. In every election, they bring up religious topics and use them to target the Congress. This tactic is very popular and successful for the BJP in winning elections, while the Congress has consistently failed to counter this narrative. By now, they should have been fully prepared and developed a counter-narrative. The BJP also needs to introspect. Even though they may be gaining electorally, they are causing immense damage to the social fabric of the nation. Elections should be fought based on political ideology and development issues; it’s time to move beyond religion.