The BJP's perceived anti-minority image polarized the Indian polity as Muslim community started voting en-bloc in favour of those parties who were most likely to defeat the BJP.
The Congress, sensing an opportunity for isolating the emerging rival, positioned itself as the torch bearer of "secularism" and offered a platform for all anti-BJP parties who had big stakes in Muslim vote bank.
When we speak about Muslim votebanks, we consciously do not speak of Hindu votebanks, which the BJP had already begun to create in the wake of Ramjanmabhoomi movement, with Gujarat as its Hindutva laboratory.
Similarly, BJP offered a platform for all anti-Congress parties who were fighting the Congress, and not BJP, in their respective states, notably in Bihar and Odisha.
The power struggle between Congress and BJP further sharpened the secularism vs communalism debate.
But it's high time that the country and its politicians decide to take a fresh look at the entire secularism vs communalism debate.
