In BJP bastion Surat, VHP tunes into a new reality

Although it claims to be apolitical, the saffron organisation's activities are said to have helped the BJP in cementing its place among the voters

It is around 2.40 pm on Thursday and the streets of Mahidharpura, the oldest and famous diamond trading centre in Surat, are busy and noisy. In a corner of one such street, speakers are blaring a catchy Hindi song.

“Na koi Nehru zinda na koi ab Gandhi hai... Modi-Yogi ka bharat hai aur bhagve ki andhi hai. Hum rakh bana denge dushman ko bhadak uthi hai chingari... Hindu me kitni taqat hai jaan chuki duniya sari. Naam mita denge tera hum Hindu hai hum Hindustani...” (Neither is Nehru alive nor is there any Gandhi. This is Modi-Yogi’s India and there is a saffron storm. We will reduce the enemy to ashes as the flame has been lit. The world has come to know how powerful Hindus are. We will erase your name, we are Hindus, we are Hindustani).

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As the song played amid the afternoon din, a couple of men clad in saffron shirts and scarves were sitting on chairs, distributing pamphlets and noting down contact numbers of passers-by.

The men work for the VHP, which along with the Bajrang Dal, is organising the ‘Hith Rakshak Abhiyan’ in the city. The tune announcing the dawn of the Modi-Yogi era is part of the initiative that will end on Nov 20.

It importantly coincides with the Gujarat Assembly elections to be held on Dec. 1 and 5 and Surat will vote on Dec. 1 in the first phase. The diamond hub has 12 Assembly seats - all held by the BJP.

This time, however, the Aam Aadmi Party is looking to cause an upset.

When DH asked VHP members at the spot about the song, they immediately stopped playing the music and said they “don’t take political sides”.

Manish Master, a member of the VHP and part of the campaign, feigned ignorance about how it made its way into the playlist.

“VHP and Bajrang Dal take out this campaign to unite Hindus every three years. I don’t know how this song was included in the playlist but this is not what VHP does. We only spread the message of united India and seek to make it a Hindu Rashtra,” said Master.

Ketur Gandhi, another VHP leader and vice-president of Suryapur (VHP addresses Surat as Suryapur) district, said it was “not intentional and someone may have received it on a pen drive”.

But the cageyness was not visible in the face of a diamond broker, many of whom can be found carrying rough and polished diamonds in folded papers.

“There is nothing wrong with what they (VHP) are doing here. We all vote for BJP as it is the party that defends and works for Hindus. What is wrong with that?” said a diamond broker.

For the upcoming polls, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal have been campaigning across the state, reaching out to people to “talk about Hindu interests such as love jihad, land jihad and Hindu Rashtra, among others”.

Although it claims to be apolitical, the activities of the saffron organisations are said to have helped the BJP in cementing its place among the voters.