Competitive cow politics in Madhya Pradesh as Congress looks to dethrone BJP

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Congress announces it will set up gaushalas in every district if voted to power in the year-end elections.

New Delhi: The Congress appears to be following the ruling BJP’s election strategy in Madhya Pradesh as it attempts to regain power in a state where it has been in the opposition for 15 years.

In a move that will bolster the claims of the Congress’ critics — that it too peddles a ‘softer’ version of Hindutva — the party’s Madhya Pradesh president, Kamal Nath, Sunday announced that if voted to power, the Congress would construct a gaushala (cow shelter) in every district of the state.

“Additional money will be arranged to run these gaushalas. The current chief minister only makes an announcement. But I am giving my word,” Kamal Nath said at a rally.

The Congress poll promise mirrors one made by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, which in August last year had announced the setting up of 108 gaushalas across the bank of the river Narmada.

In September, the BJP government went a step further and opened a first-of-its-kind sanctuary for cows, the Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya, which is spread across 472 hectares. The measure, however, has done little to assuage the problem of stray cattle in the state, where there is a cow for every three people.

The Congress’ recent political manoeuvres appear to suggest that the party believes only a competitive Hindutva will work for it in the overwhelmingly Hindu-dominated state — minorities are just 7 per cent of the population and restricted to urban areas such as Bhopal.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi was supposed to visit the Omkareshwar temple in Khandwa district in the first week of September but that has been delayed as he is on a 12-day Kailash Mansoravar Yatra. He is now scheduled to meet party workers in Bhopal on 17 September.

Analysts warn that the Congress strategy could play into the BJP’s hands.

“If the Congress thinks that by following the BJP poll strategy it can attract their voters and beat them, it is a wrong calculation,” says Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). “Instead of following them, they should devise their own strategy to beat the BJP.”

Not Hindutva push, say Congress leaders

Congress leaders, however, defended Kamal Nath’s gaushala announcement as one meant to address the problem of stray cattle.

“Over a period of time, there has been a significant reduction in agricultural land in the state. There is little place for cattle to graze,” said former state president and senior Congress leader Arun Yadav.

“We are establishing gaushalas so that stray cattle as well farmer-owned animals will have grazing fields and other arrangements such as veterinary healthcare facilities. It is to help farmers and only the media sees it as a Hindutva push.”

But this isn’t the first time that the Congress has attempted to dent the BJP’s hardcore Hindutva support base. In the run-up to the 2013 assembly elections, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh attempted to project himself as a Hindutva leader. He spoke of the medicinal benefits of cow urine and even admitted that he drank it once. He also launched a movement against cow slaughter and demanded that it be banned across the country.

In February 2003, before elections that year, when there was trouble at the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar, a shrine claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, Digvijaya, then the chief minister, recommended that Hindus should be allowed to perform puja every Tuesday, a first for the dispute. On both occasions, the Congress lost in the elections.

“The situation was different at that time,” argued Yadav. “We were facing anti-incumbency of 10 years in power. It is just the opposite now. Besides, in the past 15 years, the BJP government has ruined the state in every sector.”