Himachal Pradesh is a state teeming with Hindus. Nearly 96 percent of Himachal Pradesh is Hindu. Muslims are only now finding a foothold and the repercussions are ugly! Vikramaditya Singh’s father Virbhadra Singh, who was a many-time Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, understood the significance of the Hindu vote in Himachal Pradesh.

Does Rahul? Rahul is behaving like he doesn't. Incidentally, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh enacted an anti-conversion bill in Himachal. What does that convey? Congress politicians of Himachal Pradesh do not follow the Muslim-first policy of the Gandhi family.

They didn't need to because there were hardly enough Muslims to make a difference. But things are changing. Recent happenings are behind the changing mindset of the Himachali Hindu. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu-first politics is finding resonance in Himachal Pradesh, among Congress politicians!

The Congress won the last Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, does it want to lose the next? Has Rahul Gandhi had enough of Himachal Pradesh? Himachal Pradesh politicians are going for Yogi Adityanath's Hindu-first strategy. Himachal Pradesh Hindus are alarmed at recent happenings across the state. Not surprisingly, Congress politicians with stakes in the state are the most impressed by Yogi Adityanath.

It didn’t matter for a long-time that the Congress identified with the Muslim vote and went big-time for Muslim appeasement. But the sons of Himachal Pradesh soil are worried, especially in the wake of the Modi-led NDA government’s Wakf Board Amendment Bill, 2024, which brought the Muslim community out and reveal the extent of its Wakf landholdings.

In Himachal Pradesh, a mosque in Sanjauli in Shimla became the strife-centre of an anti-Muslim agitation that soon spread to other corners of Himachal Pradesh. And leading the agitation was a minister in the Congress government who highlighted the looming problem. He spoke of ‘land jihad’ and ‘love jihad’ and told the House of “Hindu women harassed in the streets” by men who look complete strangers to ‘Devbhoomi’.

This wasn’t Congress-speak, Himachal Pradesh was talking the language of the Hindutva. Congress ministers in the ‘Sukku’ cabinet stood firm with the Hindu. Vikramaditya Singh knows it would be difficult to keep Himachal Pradesh without the Hindu vote.

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ may sound grand in Harvard and Washington DC, but in the dust and drums of Bharat that is India, ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ doesn’t sell. Here in India, especially in the Hindi-heartland, the name-plate is recipe for polarization along communal lines — 'Vaishnav Hotel' and ‘Kebab Corner’, the name-plate separates and delineates precisely the religious identity of the eatery.

The ‘Thook Jihad’ and the ‘Urine Jihad’ also spoke loud and clear. Everything pointed to a communal and economic boycott, which the Congress could ill-afford in states where its Muslim votebank made all the difference. The problem is, the swing vote in the battleground states in the Hindi-heartland is swinging increasingly Hindu-ward.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath doesn’t think he needs ‘sabka saath’ to win elections. The Yogi believes in “80:20”. More so, after Akhilesh Yadav separated PDA and won. For Congress politicians in Himachal Pradesh not to get the message would have been foolish.

The Hindus of Himachal Pradesh have also discovered street-veto. A Muslim, or a group of Muslims, stands out like a sore thumb in Himachal Pradesh. And stepping on Hindu toes is ever present. Himachal Pradesh doesn’t need polarization, polarization in Himachal Pradesh is inbuilt in its census numbers.

Vikramaditya Singh knows the ramifications for him and his party. Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal don’t. On September 27 Venugopal summoned Vikramaditya Singh and read him the riot act, told him there was no escaping Rahul Gandhi’s “love and affection” policy. Venugopal told Vikramaditya of Rahul Gandhi’s “mantra of fighting hatred with love and affection”.

Vikramaditya Singh had embraced Yogi Adityanath’s name-plate, which delineates the Muslim, the Congress party’s votebank across India. Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ wouldn’t open to grand gala sales in Himachal Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi is living a dream, he believes in a single-fit for all states. Rahul Gandhi can run away to Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi can return northward to Raebareli, Vikramaditya Singh does not have that option.

Next question is, how long will it take for Vikramaditya Singh and his ilk to dump Rahul Gandhi and go their own way. KC Venugopal won’t be reading the riot act to Congress politicians who can survive only on a Hindu-first diet. Himachal Pradesh is not Kerala, or even Punjab. The results of the UP bypolls will delineate, once and for all, the writing on the nameplate.

Vikramaditya Singh had taken to Facebook to convey that the nameplate would rule Himachal Pradesh’s markets. And just so that nobody missed it, he ended the post with ‘Jai Shri Ram’, alluding to Yogi Adityanath’s policy of taming Muslim eateries with the mandatory display of nameplates. The Congress told him enough. Will the Congress regret? (IPA Service)