If politics was a game of chess then PM Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah are its Magnus Carlsen and Vishwanathan Anand playing on the same side. By nominating Sadhvi Pragya from the prestigious seat of Bhopal, BJP has not only thrown the Congress in a quandary but also have left the Lutyens’ liberals frothing from their mouths.

As always in the game of chess, moves are made forecasting the opponent’s next set of moves and often forcing them to commit harakiri leading to a checkmate. This is exactly what the BJP has done with the Congress pitting firebrand Hindu Sanyasin leader Sadhvi Pragya against none other than Congress strongman Digvijay Singh.

It is to be noted that Sadhvi Pragya was accused for conspiring Malegaon bomb attack in 2008 based on the only frail link that the motorcycle which was used in the bomb blast was registered in her name. However, she has refuted the allegations citing she had sold the motorcycle way back in 2004 which has been corroborated by the NIA. Due to lack of concrete evidence, the prosecuting agency; the NIA gave clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya in 2016. and she was finally granted bail in 2017 by the Bombay High Court after a nine year ordeal. The case is still chugging along in the trial court.

Sadhvi Pragya was brutally assaulted during her illegal custodial interrogation leaving her with permanent mental and physical injuries; which she has described in chilling details in various interviews to the media. Her ordeal at the hands of the Maharastra ATS and the sinister ploy by the then ruling Congress to push the “Hindu Terror” narrative by framing her is gruesome to say the least.

It is apparent that the then Congress regime had made her the scapegoat to build on their “Saffron Terror” myth whose chief proponents were the then Home Minister P Chidambaram and Congress Gen. Secretary Digvijay Singh. Digvijay Singh also made caustic claims that the 26/11 terror attacks were a conspiracy by the RSS which was debunked thanks to the heroic martyrdom of Mumbai Police hero Tukaram Omble who made the supreme sacrifice of his life while catching Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab alive which linked Pakistan’s terror group Lakshar-e-Toiba to the deadly terrorist attack. If not for Omble, Digvijay Singh would have been successful to an extent to defame RSS and Pakistan would have gone scot-free.

Congress, now in the opposition after being mauled badly by the BJP are afraid to touch Hindutva issues with a bargepole for the fear of losing the support of the Hindus. For quite sometime, Congress with a listless president at its helm; has swung like a pendulum between appeasing Hindus and the minorities; and have apparently lost the trust of both the communities.

BJP; after two phases of election have played their Hindutva card by pitting Sadhvi Pragya against Digvijay Singh and once again unsettling the Congress and the opposition in building on an election narrative on job loss, failing economy etc. The people of Bhopal would decide the veracity of the Congress-created moniker “Hindu/Saffron/Hindutva Terror” in the upcoming election. The outcome of this crucial electoral battle may very well serve poetic justice for Sadhvi Pragya who have lost her precious nine years of life and have to deal with irreparable mental and physical trauma for the rest of her life. This decision has enthused the entire cadre of the BJP who were caught on a sticky wicket selling controversial economic decisions like Demonetisation and GST to the electorate. Now the election narrative is firmly set by the BJP around National security, need for Majboot Sarkar (strong government) and not Majboor Sarkar (Helpless government) at the centre and lastly Hindutva.

With this timely masterstroke, BJP has taken the winds out of the Congress’s sails which already has several holes with the recent one being their star spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi jumping ship to join Shiv Sena in a pendulum swing from Left of Centre to far Right.