Votebank

A votebank (also spelled vote-bank or vote bank) is a term referring to a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections. Such behavior is often the result of an expectation of benefits, whether real or imagined, from the political formations, often at the cost of other communities. Votebank politics is the practice of creating and maintaining votebanks through divisive policies. As it encourages voting on the basis of self-interest of certain groups, often against their better judgement, it is considered harmful to the principles of representative democracy.

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Quotes

D

• I am fed up with the Congress. I am beginning to prefer the BJP to the Congress, because the Congress is now more communal than the BJP, despite Ram Janmabhoomi. It is the Congress which evolved the Muslim votebank.
  • Kamala Das, quoted by Leela Menon, and quoted from Elst, Koenraad (2014). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p. 245.

J

• If you [Canada] have people whose presence there is itself on very dubious documents, what does it say about you? It actually says that your vote bank is more powerful than your rule of law.
  • Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, [1] May 2024

K

• The major problem that we have to accept is that since 20 years there has been an effort to appease the minority. If you pick out Bengal, the entire politics can be summarised in a sentence, ‘whomever the Muslims vote for, that party will form the government’. The entire ecosystem of Left, Congress and Didi has evolved to target the Muslim vote bank.... For the first time, Hindus are thinking that someone is asking about them. There is some element BJP is exploiting and that element is coming from the blatant misuse of minority politics by these parties. You and I cannot refuse to believe this reality.
  • Prashant Kishor, April 2021, [2] [3] [4]

M

• All modern sociological studies on caste use these arbitrary colonial conceptualizations. After India’s Independence, the democratic system turned castes into vote banks which have been manipulated by politicians ever since to serve their vested interests.
  • Malhotra, R. & Viswanathan V. (2022). Snakes in the Ganga : Breaking India 2.0.

• Is vote-bank politics bigger than people and humanity?
  • Narendra Modi Indian Express May 2024

• They only know how to divide the society to protect their vote bank.
  • Narendra Modi [5] May 2024

• I am against the game of vote bank that is played on the basis of religion. For example, Congress, in its manifesto, has indicated that it will award contracts as per this (religion) eligibility. How can the country run like this? Contracts are awarded keeping in mind the capacity, resources, experience, track record, and willingness to execute govt projects. The contract is awarded if the listed areas are fulfilled. But now they want a reservation in that as well and that too for minorities.
  • Narendra Modi Interview in 2024

N

• Politicians are all on the same platform when it comes down to me. I think it’s because they think that if they can satisfy the Muslim fundamentalists they will get votes. I believe I am a victim of votebank politics. This also shows that how weak the democracy is and politicians ask votes by banning a writer ...
  • Taslima Nasrin about Mamata, Indian Express

S

• "Religious persecution, abduction, rape and forcible occupation of their lands by the Muslims left the Chakmas with no choice but to leave Bangladesh", yet "while the Congress Government had welcomed Bangladeshi infiltrators for vote-bank politics, Chakmas were being pushed out even though they were victims of religious persecutions."
  • Sushma Swaraj, quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2001). Decolonizing the Hindu mind: Ideological development of Hindu revivalism. New Delhi: Rupa. p 564-5

T

• The compulsions of India's vote-bank politics make it necessary to divide Hindu society into mutually antagonistic segments and, at the same time, to keep the Muslim vote-bank united. This can only be done by promoting the concept of a "composite" nation-hood. denying India's ancient Hindu Nationhood, and following a policy of "cynical 'secularism".
  • S. Talageri "The Aryan Invasion Theory and Indian Nationalism", 1993