State polls: BJP leaders for strategy change

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 17

Two top BJP leaders on Wednesday made “provocative” statements in respect of minorities raising questions on whether the party was recalibrating its strategy in the wake of below-par Lok Sabha poll performance and looming elections in key states.

Addressing the West Bengal BJP executive meeting, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari called for an end to “sabka saath sabka vikas” approach, a remark he later eschewed. “Sabka saath sabha vikas” is PM Narendra Modi’s slogan to describe the BJP-led NDA government’s governance model. “I had spoken about nationalist Muslims and you had said ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’. I will not say this anymore. Instead we will now say — jo hamarey saath, hum unke saath. Stop this ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’. Minority morcha is not needed,” Adhikari said at the meeting.

At a separate event in Assam, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, flagging concerns around changing demography, said, “The Muslim population in the state was 12 per cent in 1951. Today, it is 40 per cent. This is a major concern. This is not a political matter for me. It is a matter of life and death.”

After an uproar over his statement, Adhikari took to X, saying the remarks had been misrepresented. “My statement is being taken out of context. I am clear that those who are nationalists, stand for this nation and Bengal, we should be with them. Those who don’t stand with us, work against the interests of the nation and Bengal, we need to expose them. Also, like Mamata Banerjee, we shouldn’t divide people in majority and minority and see them as Indians. I embody in letter and spirit, PM’s call for ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas’,” he said.

During the Lok Sabha election campaign, Modi had faced the Opposition’s wrath for using “ghuspethiye” and “those with more children” remarks at a rally, although he later clarified he was only questioning Congress’ appeasement policies and not speaking about the Muslims.

In Haryana on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah repeated the party line of not allowing any Backward Class quota for the Muslims and warned, “If the Congress comes to power in Haryana, it would give reservation to the Muslims like it did in Karnataka.”

With top leaders making these statements, it appears the BJP could be returning to attempts at majority consolidation with an eye on upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana, Delhi and Jharkhand and later in West Bengal and Assam in 2026.

In Bengal, the BJP has much to worry about having lost three Assembly bypolls where it had sitting MLAs who switched over to the TMC and won with bigger margins than before.

Want to tone down ‘sabka saath’ pitch

Forget ‘sabka saath’… minority morcha not needed. — Suvendu Adhikari

Rising Muslim population… matter of life and death. — Himanta Biswa Sarma

If in power, Cong would give quota to Muslims in Haryana. — Amit Shah