Bahujan consolidation is the greatest political threat to Hindutva. The indifference of Adivasis, Dalits, backward classes and religious minorities – the bahujan – towards it ensured that the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) predecessor as Hindutva’s political arm, remained a niche presence, and if it weren’t for the inroads the BJP has made among some of these groups over time (thanks to its own savvy and the disappointments its rivals have caused), it would not be in the position it is today.
However, the BJP can hardly afford to be complacent. Large sections of the bahujan continue to be wary of Hindutva’s subordinating tendencies; the demonetisation experiment and the woeful pace of job creation have led to a sense of betrayal among those who bought the acche din promise; and, the systematic and often violent targeting of Dalits and Muslims by pro-Hindutva groups in recent times can only have hardened anti-BJP sentiment among them.
Encouragingly from the BJP sympathiser’s perspective, the party seems aware of its shaky grip over the bahujan constituency and appears to have a strategy in place to manage the challenge it represents.