On April 3, the Bharatiya Janata Party put its formidable outreach network on an unusual election task: show Prime Minister Modi’s connect with Muslims.
The party’s social media accounts as well as media houses seen to be sympathetic towards the party pushed out an image of a skull-capped Muslim man leaning in and confiding in Modi as the prime minister listened intently, with one hand avuncularly on the man’s shoulder.
Under Modi, the BJP has largely encouraged religious polarisation given that its strategy has been to collect as much of the Hindu vote across castes, while taking it as a given that it would not get substantial Muslim support. However, as is clear from the Modi-Muslim man image, the BJP has been wary of pushing a hard polarisiation line during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
The reason for that is less that the BJP thinks it will get Muslim votes but more to prevent a substantial polarisation behind the Trinamool. A consolidation of the votes…