Asked when he thought attacks by Hindu mobs against Christians would end in this remote part of eastern India, local Christian leader Ranjit Nayak replied immediately, and with a resigned smile. “March,” Nayak said, referring to a general election due in early 2009. “This is all totally politically motivated.” Like many Christians, human rights groups and government ministers, Nayak suspected hardline Hindu groups of organising these attacks in Orissa state, trying to win political support among Hindus over long-standing tensions with missionaries. Communal politics is back on the agenda across India, to challenge an embattled secular-leaning government as it gears up for an election against a Hindu-nationalist opposition in 2009. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to take the political offensive, campaigning here in Orissa state on issues such as missionary conversion, or convincing Hindus in other states of the risks from militant Muslims. The ruling Congress, under pressure to ban Hindu hardline groups and get tough on terrorism, is struggling both to avoid alienating Hindu voters while also securing its traditional support among minorities, including Muslims. The government held a meeting on Monday of the National Integration Council, a panel of public figures, to discuss communal tension, the first time the group has met since 2005. “It is not by accident that these incidents are increasing,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the council. “We need to collectively consider whether short-term narrow political ends are driving some of us to encourage forces of divisiveness.” Attacks in Orissa and bombings by suspected militants that have killed hundreds have dominated media and political debates in the last month. Muslim leaders accuse the police of indiscriminate arrests and even murders of Muslim youth as they try to show they are catching terrorists. Communal brink Dozens have died in Muslim-Hindu riots in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The headlines often supplanted voter worries over inflation. “Do the leaders of the various state and the union governments realise the country is on a dangerous communal and sectarian brink and that urgent measures must be taken to put a lid on violence?” The Mail Today said in an editorial this month. The last election in 2004, when Congress came to power, was partly seen as a secular backlash against the incumbent BJP-led government, especially after the Gujarat riots in 2002 when more than 2,000 Muslims were massacred by Hindu mobs. While some BJP leaders now prefer to campaign on economic issues, others are happier to rail against issues such as religious conversion, which unite many Hindus. “Where the BJP is challenging for power they are playing the Hindutva card,” said Kuldip Nayar, a political analyst, referring to the concept of Hindu revivalism. Take Orissa, where at least 35 people, mostly Christians, have been killed in religious clashes since late August. The BJP's support rose by around five percent in September's local elections. Congress fell to third place for the first time. Many saw the campaign against conversion as helping the BJP. The BJP denies it has been involved in attacks, but many people blame its grassroots organisations. The government is considering banning one such group, Bajrang Dal. Ashok Sahu, a respected Hindu leader in Orissa, offers a glimpse into the mentality of grassroot Hindu nationalists. He lamented that Christians were a tight group that counted more than more loosely-knit Hindus. He criticised Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, a Roman Catholic, for using Christians politically. “Christians may only be three percent of the population, but they account for about five percent in polls. That makes a lot of difference in elections,” he said. But it is not just about attacks on Christians. Bombings this year, including serial blasts in New Delhi that killed at least 23 people, were blamed on Muslim groups and put the government's response to terrorism high on the political agenda. On the one hand, the government has been criticised for being soft on terrorism for failing to stop the attacks. But it has also come under fire for the tough police response. A key parliamentary supporter of the government, the Samajwadi Party, relies on Muslim votes and criticised the government after the police crackdown. This kind of division may play into the hands of the BJP. Seema Desai, London-based analyst for political risk consultants Eurasia Group, called the BJP's hardline campaign on terrorism “soft Hindutva,” allowing the party to promote Hindu revivalism without alienating centrist voters. The argument goes that Indians may back a hardline stance on Muslim militancy, even if they are uneasy with outrightly promoting Hindu religious causes. – Reuters __
