From Kashmir to conversions, with Himanta in Chhattisgarh’s ‘jinxed’ constituency

In poll-bound Chhattisgarh, the BJP’s campaign strategy doesn’t revolve around just unemployment, corruption and women’s safety but Hindutva poll planks too. 

Addressing BJP workers in Akaltara segment of the Jangir-Champa district, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma deployed the same talking points – from conversions to nationalism. To explain Chhattisgarh’s politics, he repeatedly referred to Kashmir. 

Do BJP workers agree? It wasn’t a full house at the event. Some of the workers threw their weight behind Himanta while others expressed resentment over not benefiting from the employment and housing schemes launched by the Congress government. 

Baghel is yet to visit Akaltara, which some think has the same myth as Noida – where Uttar Pradesh chief ministers were believed by some to have lost power due to their visits to the district. 

Himanta, meanwhile, suddenly left the stage in Akaltara after a phone call.

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This article was originally published in Newslaundry and can be read here.