Circa 2012. Gujarat was set to go to polls at a time when there was a growing clamour for then Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s anointment as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate. The BJP’s impending victory in the state was being widely anticipated as just the push Modi, running for his fourth term as CM, would then need to fulfil his national ambitions. But there was a counter to him, and from what appeared at the time as unlikely quarters.
Reports have it that a section of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad went pillar to post to scuttle Modi’s chances of a win, or at least lessen the margin of BJP’s victory. While the chances of victory for the Congress’ Keshubhai Patel and Gordhan Zadaphia’s Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). The idea was to portray Modi as leading a divided house – with the VHP as well as BJP functioning under the larger umbrella of the RSS. The man seen as leading this campaign against Modi was none other than VHP’s International Working President Praveen Togadia.
Of course, results later that year showed that Togadia’s alleged push had yielded little result. The BJP, under Modi, won 116 of 182 seats while the Congress emerged victorious at 60. How and what transpired with Modi and his perceived national ambitions is well known now. However, Togadia’s campaign against the BJP in the state did ruffle a few feathers. But we come to that later.
In April 2013, just months before the BJP declared Modi as its PM candidate, Togadia went at it again. Only this time, his outburst was very public. The VHP leader put many right-wing leaders in a spot when he claimed that the VHP would declare Gujarat a “Hindu state” by 2015. VHP leaders struggled for answers while Gujarat BJP leaders openly dissociated from the comment and slammed it openly.
Cut to the present and Togadia tried to trigger another explosion with claims that he was set to be kidnapped and killed in an encounter with the police. In potentially bombastic claims, the VHP leader alleged that agencies from Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Centre were out to get him and his life was in danger. The sequence of events, as explained by the police, however, went against his claims.
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Togadia’s sensational outburst, coupled with his daylong ‘disappearance’, did not manage to create the flutter that he would have liked. For, his stature as the flag-bearer of right-wing politics in Gujarat has been long decimated. With little support base – both among the electorate and cadre – Togadia has seen himself being increasingly sidelined in political affairs. This has been coupled with the meteoric rise of his friend-turned-foe Narendra Modi on the national level.
Despite his image of a right-wing politician, Modi’s stated narrative of ‘India First’ went contrary to Togadia’s extreme Hindutva views. In 2014, days before his election as India’s Prime Minister, Modi lambasted Togadia’s claims of declaring Gujarat a “Hindu state”. He said on Twitter: “Petty statements by those claiming to be BJP’s well-wishers are deviating the campaign from the issues of development & good governance…I disapprove any such irresponsible statement.” Togadia’s comments saw him fall out of favour with even the RSS which stressed that it disapproved of any discrimination on religious or caste lines.
But these developments failed to deter Togadia’s campaign against Modi. In August 2016, when Modi openly denounced ‘Gau Rakshaks’ as “anti-social elements”, Togadia dubbed the remarks as an insult to Hindus and also said the PM’s directive to states to create dossiers of cow vigilantes amounted to “racial profiling” of Hindus. Expressing “utmost dissatisfaction and agony” over Prime Minister’s remarks, he also questioned as to why the “head of the country” has given a clean chit to “cow butchers” and victimised cow protectors, who have been his avid supporters and helped him get elected.
Much to his dismay, Togadia’s repeated outbursts against the PM have failed to find favour with the right wing. His stature as a political personality is at an abysmal low and there is no surprise that his most recent claims have raised eyebrows too. While the claims of the police had already fractured Togadia’s “kidnapping” and “encounter” narrative, the support he received from the likes of Congress’ Arjun Modhwadia and PAAS leader Hardik Patel may have dented his cause further.
If one were to read the political undercurrent, Togadia may now be risking his identity as a right-wing leader altogether.