Photo Of Peeping Kharge: Congress’s Gift To BJP Ahead Of Polls | Saffron Scoop

Last Updated:October 25, 2024, 17:03 IST

Former Congressman and BJP leader CR Kesavan was among many who termed the act “anti-Dalit”

A nearly shut door, a peeping Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge from outside as if eager to enter, the inside packed with the Gandhis — this is a perfect recipe for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to deliver a Dalit googly. The image is a reminder of former Congress President and Dalit Sitaram Kesri being carried out to make way for the Gandhis. While Priyanka Gandhi may not bear the brunt of the move in Wayanad, her party may have to face it in all the by-polls in different states and particularly two major assembly polls — Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

BJP TO EXPLOIT THE IMAGE

In politics, imagery serves as a potent way to communicate a point. For whatever reason, Kharge, despite being the party chief, was kept out, even as the 82-year-old Dalit leader seemed eager to enter. Former Congressman and BJP leader CR Kesavan was among many who termed the act “anti-Dalit”.

Kharge junior, Priyank, stepped in to limit the damage, taking serious exception to his father being projected as a leader of the Dalits and not the whole society. But this did not work as Kharge has tacitly started enjoying his social base.

Last year in Parliament, he asked if he should rake up his Dalit background each time he is not allowed to speak in the Rajya Sabha.

When activist Anna Hazare, draped in a white kurta and weakened by hunger, had waved a massive national flag, the photo had appealed to the emotions of an entire nation. It was used against the then ruling party Congress by many political outfits in their social media campaigns.

In a time of no social media and media repression during the Emergency, the photo of George Fernandes being arrested became iconic, representing the repression of the opposition. In the first election after the Emergency in 1977, the Congress was defeated and the Janata Alliance, which used Fernandes’s photo widely for campaigning, formed the government.

The visuals from Wayanad were one such political image that the Congress gifted the BJP. While the Congress later exhibited photos of Kharge inside the room and called claims of BJP leaders such as Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Amit Malviya a “lie”, the BJP has already set the political narrative just the way the opposition did with its customisation of “400 paar” during the Lok Sabha election that cost the BJP dear.

HOW WILL IT AFFECT DALIT VOTES?

There are nine assembly bypolls scheduled in high-voltage Uttar Pradesh. The Congress has decided to give it a miss this time after the Samajwadi Party (SP) declared that the INDIA bloc will be united under its ‘cycle’ symbol. The SP, which performed better in the Lok Sabha based on its newfound social engineering formula PDA, where ‘D’ stands for Dalit, will have to answer to its constituents if the BJP communicates the message properly.

There will be bypolls to 48 Assembly seats and two parliamentary constituencies across 15 states in two phases next month, in many of which the BJP will either use this message against the Congress or its allies, making INDIA constituents, too, uncomfortable.

The BJP leaders’ cohesive attack shows the plan for the coming two months. This may particularly be felt in four bypolls in caste-sensitive Bihar, three seats of Karnataka — the state Kharge hails from — and seven bypolls in Rajasthan. Many of these are reserved seats.

In Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seats, where the Congress alliance hopes to come to power, it must not forget that if this visual and the BJP’s logic gets to the electorate’s mind, they will have a tough time.

Maharashtra has 29 assembly and five Lok Sabha constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), who account for 11.81% of the state’s population, as per the 2011 Census. There are at least five lakh SCs in 21 of Maharashtra’s 36 districts. This is not to say all of them or a significant lot of them will be swayed by the BJP’s narrative, but if the BJP’s election machinery is able to convince a sizable portion, the Congress and its allies may face the consequences.

Similarly, in Jharkhand, which houses 32 tribes such as Munda, Gond and Santhal, the issue will be sensitive. The BJP has already mounted a pro-tribal campaign since last year, alleging illegal Bangladeshis are snatching their land.

The question is — will the peeping Kharge visual end with this week’s news cycle or did the BJP just smell blood?