Icchadari Hindus- a term used for the politicians who despite being Muslim sympathisers, suddenly turn Hindu supporters before assembly elections to woo Hindu voters. And there exist many Icchadari Hindus in political corridors. The latest entry in the list is Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal seemingly has witnessed his party not being able to gather any momentum in Punjab, and thus, has resorted to appease Hindus.
Kejriwal’s appeasement tactics
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Supremo Arvind Kejriwal, during his visit to Punjab ’s Jalandhar on Saturday, appealed for an anti-conversion law. He stated that a law should be made against religious conversion but nobody should be wrongly harassed.
Kejriwal asserted, “Religion is a private matter. Everybody has the right to worship a God. A law should definitely be made against religious conversions but nobody should be wrongly harassed through this. Conversions done by scaring them is wrong.”
Though such a statement by Kejriwal is unexpected, that’s what elections are all about. The opposition parties, who are believed by many to be anti-Hindu, do not even think twice before appeasing them for political opportunism.
Kejriwal’s failed attempt to appease Hindus
Not only in Punjab, but Kejriwal had also tried to persuade the Hindus in UP by organising Tiranga Yatras across major cities of UP like Noida, Ayodhya, Lucknow, and Agra. Kejriwal who once had spoken against Ram Mandir decided to visit Ram Lala in Ayodhya and offer his prayers. When people of the UP saw that Kejriwal had banned crackers in Delhi and is Ram-bhakt only for his political opportunism, he then started to appease opposition parties which are believed by many to be anti-Hindu.
Read more: Akhilesh gets a new partner every election, this time its Kejriwal
Kejriwal went to apply his tried and tested technique of distributing freebies by announcing free electricity to farmers and citizens in the state. Then he went on to organize the Rojgar guarantee rally in Lucknow, which was postponed due to administrative reasons. As he witnessed his party not being able to gather any momentum, he was forced to form an alliance with SP.
It is pertinent to note that several state governments including Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, have brought in laws to regulate forcible religious conversion. They have cracked down on missionaries and Islamic rackets to expose those who are behind the forceful conversion.
On the contrary, the communist states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are still witnessing a huge number of conversions. The families affected due to political violence in Bengal, the poor and Dalits in Tamil Nadu are ready to convert themselves as they have no food and want to survive.
While the central government and few state governments are hell-bent on fighting the menace of conversion, the political parties like AAP, Samajwadi Party and others are using it for their political opportunism.
In so doing, most likely he will lose Christians’ and Muslims’ votes more than gaining the Hindus’ votes.