Targeting Congress, Modi during an election rally at Rajasthan on April 21, had asserted that "if elected to power at the Centre, Congress would distribute people's property, land and gold among Muslims."

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Modi claimed that the then Congress Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2006 stated that "Muslims had the first claim on the country's resources."  He then went on to describe the particular minority community as "those who have a large number of children" and "ghuspetiya (intruders)". Referring to Manmohan Singh's remark, the Prime Minister said : "That means the property will be distributed among those who have a large number of children...and among intruders."

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On Monday (April 22) speaking at Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, with nearly 43% Muslims, Modi changed tack. Playing to the Hindu gallery, (with 55% of the vote share), he accused Congress of indulging in the "politics of appeasement" but then trying to strike a balance, he spoke of how his government came to the aid of Muslim women and men by "banning triple talaq" and "increasing Haj quota."

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Reactions have come swift and fast, from even former allies like the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi. Speaking to an international channel, Owaisi said: “Modi today called Muslims infiltrators and people with many children. Since 2002 till this day, the only Modi guarantee has been to abuse Muslims and get votes.”

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Describing Modi's remarks as a "hate speech", Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that "Prime Minister has lowered the dignity of his post." The Congress has lodged a complaint against Modi's speech to the Election Commission of India.

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However, marching in lockstep with the BJP's Pied Piper, the party has amplified its rhetoric on divisive politics. The party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia while defending Modi's contentious remark said that the PM "only echoed people's sentiments by calling spade a spade."

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Some of the political pundits, however, felt that there was "nothing new" in what Modi said yesterday. "This has been his winning formula in Gujarat and now he is using the same template at the national level," a BJP insider said.

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This has not gone unnoticed by the global media.

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Voice of America in an article stated-"Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

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The Economist wrote: "Equating Hinduism and India in this way is one of the main tenets of Mr Modi's ideology..." Another article by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace screamed: "Modi Prioritised Hindu Majoritarianism over Economy." Quoting a report by the Washington based research group 'India Hate Lab", television channel CNN in an article stated that after the BJP came to power in 2014, "Anti-Muslim speech has risen dramatically."

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Regardless, the BJP's stunning electoral triumphs both at the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls have time and again proved that majoritarian politics is here to stay. In 2019, the Pulwama attack and anti-Pakistan rhetoric had dominated the political discourse and in 2024, BJP continues to march towards its goal, using the props of the Hindu god Lord Ram, the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and the politics of polarisation.