BJP's fear politics has outlived utility, wind is changing: Congress chief poll strategist Sasikanth Senthil

CHENNAI: Former IAS officer and head of the Congress central election war room Sasikanth Senthil is optimistic that the political wind has changed in favour of the INDIA bloc even in the Hindi heartland. Deconstructing the debacle in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh, Senthil told DT Next that the people in the Hindi heartland are able to see through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘lies’. Edited excerpts:

From a bureaucrat to election strategist to Congress candidate in Tiruvallur, what has been the transition like?

Even as a bureaucrat, people used to say that I was not in the bureaucratic setup. It is a very logical transition. We are fighting an ideology that is consuming the country from the inside. This is the right time for me to come and it was very natural for me.

Congress succeeded in Karnataka and Telangana, but lost in Rajasthan (where you worked as the chief strategist), MP and Chhattisgarh. Is the Congress on the backfoot?

Rajasthan's failure was nothing less than Karnataka’s victory. In Rajasthan, we were facing a lot of anti-incumbency. We switched the right gears, but where we missed out was fighting the old guard, or changing some candidates. Around 65 of the 90 sitting MLAs and 23 of the 28 ministers lost. People would call it a wipeout. But we scored 70 seats out of 200 - only 20 – 30 seats below the simple majority. About 15 seats were within a 1,000-vote margin. It was only in a margin of one per cent votes that we won in Karnataka and lost in Rajasthan. But it was a good experience for us organisationally. Chhattisgarh was not a very bad loss.

Where it pained us was Madhya Pradesh, where we had our organisational problems. Congress is an idea and the party is very fluid. It can revive on a single day and fight everything because it has the churning inside.

For the Parliament election, we have been working very well. We have a lot of scope but also disadvantages. We don’t have the agenda-setting media with us. Secondly, our accounts have been frozen. Everything is raided, our allies are threatened, and some have even been imprisoned. We are fighting a good fight despite all that.

Has Congress done enough course correction since the five-state Assembly polls to face the Parliamentary polls, mainly in the Hindi heartland states?

Every LS election is a narrative election. The bigger narrative of who is going to become the PM and for what reason matters. In that sense, both the Bharat Jodo Yatras are different approaches to telling the people what the Congress is.

On the contrary, the BJP only has Ram Mandir; they don’t have any development agenda. Our development agenda has manifested in our manifesto and guarantees. We have set the narrative. We need to work on dissemination and pushing it with the support of the media. Organisational strength is another big area. But, it does not happen in six months. I can say we have started it and the change is visible. In this election, we, the entire INDIA bloc, will be able to topple the BJP. As a party, Congress will take some more time to get where we want it to be.

You have less than two months to get the numbers…

They have completely polarised the tribal community to our side by arresting Hemant Soren. So, Jharkhand is positive. Chhattisgarh will be positive. Rajasthan is going to be absolutely positive. We are in the game. We are fighting it very well. There will be a complete surprise. After all, only one vote is required to win. So, we must think from that perspective and hit the target. Time is indeed a constraint. We are working on it.

The BJP is talking about 370 to even 400 plus seats. Has the voter been convinced enough in the Hindi heartland?

Since I have been in Rajasthan, I can say it has changed there. In UP, there is still a lot of scope for what we can do. Bihar is also on a different plane. What is left is MP and a little bit of Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Largely, people are now able to see through the lies of Modi and the BJP government. The anger against the Modi regime does exist.

Every initiative of any political party must be set in society by a medium. That is where there is a complete lack of support. Look at what is happening on the Electoral Bonds issue. I agree, our organisation is not in good shape. It will take time. But the medium is completely gone. That is where we are lacking.

Our main leader is taking up a march throughout the country. We want the medium to churn 360 degrees. Our organisation is getting ready. It will take some more time for us to get the same power the medium cannot provide. We are in the process of reaching the people’s minds. In the coming days, we will find new ways to reach people’s minds like we did in Karnataka and Telangana through the guarantee cards.

Is the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and other INDIA leaders helping you? Or do the people buy the rhetoric of Modi that it is an offensive against corruption?

The people will see through this. Aam Aadmi Party has a lot of cadre and anti-corruption sentiment. They had a soft corner for development and the discourse against corruption. Most of them are now realising that what Modi is doing today to AAP will be done to everybody tomorrow. That will reverse everything. Even the people in North India are realising it. The myth of people being crazy about Modi is a bad joke now.

You call it a myth and joke. BJP considers PM Modi the vote getter...

Modi is not the vote-getter. The actual vote-getter is the fear of being in danger. The cheap politics of fear - religion khatre mein hein or women khatre mein hein. That kind of politics can be done by anybody. Our politics of love and equity is a difficult one. It will require a lot of time and energy. I agree, in a couple of years we lost the organisational skill. But today, the parties are reviving the method. The Dravidian parties are a classic example. The electioneering they are doing, neither RSS nor any other organisation will not be able to match it in a few years. So is the case in Kerala. It is a matter of time before the progressive forces will take control.

So, you believe the politics of BJP has outlived its utility…

Yes. It has. That is why they (BJP) go back to old incidents and create new incidents to revive the fear. It is outliving its importance. People are facing much more danger. They are not able to get jobs or eat properly. Now, people are able to see through it.

Even after the Ram temple consecration?

I think Ram temple peaked at the wrong time. Nobody is bothered about it now.

What about CAA?

I don’t think it is going to create a major issue. It is a law, they left out somebody. What is very dangerous is the NRC. If they do it, that is when the country will boil.

In Tamil Nadu, state BJP president Annamalai claims that Rahul Gandhi cannot become Amar, Akbar, Antony overnight...

These people must not be taken seriously. They come from a semi-fascist organisation. Only the boss matters to the cadre in fascist organisations. They will do anything to keep the boss happy. These are ‘hail Modi’ guys. He (Annamalai) hits out at Rahul Gandhi so that Modi would see him in a better image. Rahul does not talk about this guy. They don’t have an understanding of the value system of the country or its ethos. They want to take us 100 years backward in the name of culture. It is a choice the people must make whether to remain in the modern age or go backward.

BJP claims to have grown manifold in Tamil Nadu, and forecasts victory in 10 to 15 seats here. Has the BJP grown so much?

It is a joke. They do it not only in Tamil Nadu, but north India. They are losing the mojo in the Hindi heartland. Here everybody knows that they are nothing here and BJP is only bringing the rowdy elements and disgruntled elements from a few other parties. Yes, the people here are casteist. But they don’t hate people. People here will not fall for it.

What threat are you foreseeing from the ideology threatening to consume the nation?

This country has always had ideological battles. A battle between two mindsets for a long time. One mindset believes in pluralism, equity and love. The other believes in hierarchy, control by fear and a kind of subservience. Because we had this caste system, the second ideology of hierarchy was codified at birth. The latest such battle was the independence movement. It was not only against the British, but also against the hierarchies. When we got the constitution which was exemplifying the equity mindset, the other group did not like that part. They never accepted this country as a country that proposes equity, pluralism and celebration of differences. They have been waiting all these years to capture them. The moment they capture power, they are trying to take us back to old times, which will be vehemently resisted.

By ideology and threat, are you referring to Modi and his BJP?

Modi is a part of the whole system. It is a Parivar, which does not believe in equity. I am sitting here because we wrote a Constitution which believed in equity. Many people never accepted me sitting here. That is the Parivar we are fighting against. It is the RSS, its ecosystem, its thought processes, the casteist mindset and superiority complex on many things. BJP as a party exemplifies the ideology.

Is Modi visiting TN frequently to compensate for the slide you claim in the Hindi heartland?

They will not get anything in Tamil Nadu. They have a problem in North India. They want to make Modi, the ‘universal Dada’. Presenting an image about Tamil Nadu is important to manage their votes in north India.