BJP Didn’t Win In 2014 On ‘Governance’, Says Subramanian Swamy
Elections in India have never been won on economic performance, says Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. “Narasimha Rao didn't win, neither did Vajpayee after India Shining, nor did Morarji Desai after controlling inflation,” Swamy told BloombergQuint's Sanjay Pugalia in an interview.
“Governance is just a thing to talk about. That's not what we won on,” Swamy added, attributing the first single-party majority for 30 years in 2014 to more emotive issues.
What has been the politics in India so far? Divide the Hindus on caste, region, language, and Varna. Break them into tiny pieces, consolidate the minorities, take those 15-16 percent, add the scheduled caste vote, pick such candidates, and get to a majority.Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP, BJP
Swamy says the BJP flipped that argument in the last Lok Sabha election, and signed to a plan that, he says, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had been advocating since the Jan Sangh days. “BJP, for the first time in 2014... made a new strategy, to do the opposite of this. To bring the Hindus together, present such issues that they consolidate, and don't fracture.” He then enumerated ways in which the individual sects among Muslims were divided, via issues like ‘Triple Talaq'.
That's the formula that gave us the majority.Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP, BJP
Watch those comments here:
Watch the entire interview here:
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