The economy is sinking and it is sinking fast. Our GDP growth for the last quarter stood at 5.7 per cent. Demonetisation has terribly failed in its objective of unearthing black money in the country. Both demonetisation and the GST rollout have boomeranged. The long and short of the country’s prevailing economic scenario is that the much touted ‘Modinomics’ has miserably failed. The Opposition now is asking for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s resignations.

Well, it is a noble and gentlemanly demand to ask someone who fails to perform to quit. But we neither have noble nor gentlemen left in politics across the spectrum. So to expect that Modi or Jaitley would step down simply because demonetisation and GST have bled the economy is rather naïve and out-dated.

It is now a glaring reality that the economy is in doldrums. There are no jobs in the market. Businesses are generally down. The farm sector is already in deep crisis. The only shining sector of IT is also going through a rough patch. The overall economic picture is not encouraging at all.

Politically speaking, it means trouble for the ruling establishment. But do you see any sign of worries within the BJP or Modi’s circle? No, there are no disturbing signs at all. Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to be as confident as he was when he took oath of office. BJP President Amit Shah is ready for 350-plus Lok Sabha seats for the BJP in the next round of parliamentary poll scheduled for 2019. The Sangh is busy saffronising the country at a fast speed.

What is the secret behind such confidence within the ruling circles despite worsening economy? Bad economy means bad electoral dividends. But the BJP is rather more upbeat and sure of its electoral victories both in the upcoming Assembly and national elections. Its President Amit Shah now talks of 350-plus seats in next Lok Sabha.

The secret of the BJP’s confidence is nothing but its Hindutva formula. The more the crisis, the more the emphasis on minority bashing. Religion is the only opiate that makes people drown their worries and lead them to think about the ‘other’. The BJP’s other are the Muslims and other minorities like Christians, etc. Invoke their fear and the majority gets scared. Once majority gets scared, project Modi as their saviour. Once Modi is transformed into ‘Hindu aang rakshak’ , he easily becomes ‘Hindu Hirday samrat’. The majority in such a situation would vote for Modi and his party.

So, why bother for the sliding economy if Hindutava continues to deliver electoral victory as it did in UP after demonetisation? At best, do something to ward off the threat of Opposition unity to stop pooling anti-Modi votes which are much higher in percentage than pro-Modi votes. That too does not seem to be much of a problem for the BJP. The CBI is there to scare Opposition leaders from coming together. File an FIR against Karti Chidambaram if his father takes on the government on the RBI data regarding demonetisation or send Income Tax guys to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence if he dares to organise an anti-BJP rally in Patna.

Well, the economy is not just in a bad shape; it will continue to go down. But it will not disturb the Modi bandwagon till the Opposition is disunited and Hindutva is kicking and delivering electoral dividends.