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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
Unlike the preceding elections when Bharatiya Janata Party made political capital out of the contentious Ayodhya issue, the party's focus at the forthcoming state assembly seems to be the bon on Students Islamic Movement of India and the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance.
Of late, the chief minister has been raising these two issues at almost each of his umpteen public meetings.
At a recent rally at Aligarh he trained his guns against SIMI, while condemning his sworn political rival and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for opposing POTO.
The reasons for BJP's current strategy are simple.
The ban on SIMI is being painted by the Samajwadi Party as nothing more than 'Muslim bashing' by the BJP.
With an obvious eye on the Muslim vote bank of nearly 20 per cent, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was willing to give a clean chit to SIMI, despite startling revelations about the organisation's direct nexus with Kashmiri militant outfits .
With the promulgation of POTO, almost the entire opposition had risen up in arms against the government.
Be it the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Congress, the leaders of each of these parties are busy training their guns at the BJP on the question of bringing in POTO.
"This is a conspiracy to harass the minority community and we have decided to oppose it tooth and nail," Mulayam Singh Yadav had told mediapersons recently.
BSP vice president Mayawati had threatened to stage demonstrations to register her protest against the new ordinance.
And Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had left no stone unturned to flay the BJP government on this count.
"What was the need for POTO when existing laws were enough to book terrorists? I can see a saffron game behind this with the sole intention of harassing Muslims," she told a rally last week.
Sonia Gandhi also gave a call for an agitation against the 'black law'.
Just as these three key opposition players were busy flaying the ruling saffron brigade, for what they termed as the 'black law', the Bhartiya Janata Party was consolidating its traditional vote bank.
Even those who otherwise had no sympathy for the BJP, seem to be drifting towards the ruling party.
"BJP is communal alright, but the opposition appears to be no better as it believes in condemning the new anti-terrorist ordinance solely to woo the minority vote," remarked S V Singh , an otherwise hardcore Congressman .
"If the Samajwadi Party was going to behave in this manner that blatantly speaks of its Muslim wooing approach, then how can you blame those who were trying to consolidate their Hindu vote bank," asked another Congressman Dr V P Sharma.
Evidently, such a scenario ideally suits the BJP, to not only keep its hardcore Hindu vote intact, but to also attract the moderates opposed to the protests against POTO and the ban on SIMI.
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