Talking Religion, Cow Politics and Polls in the Heart of Haridwar

We reached Haridwar to find out if religious sentiments will sway votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

We reached Haridwar to find out if religious sentiments will have an impact on the votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Video Editor : Purnendu Pritam

Do religious sentiments matter in elections? Will the BJP’s ‘Hindutva’ politics help them sway votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections? To find out, The Quint reached the heart of an important Hindu pilgrimage site – Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

Mukesh Patel, a devotee from Ahmedabad, believes a candidate should be chosen on the basis of his qualifications and his devotion to the country. The selection should not be done on the basis of whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim.

On the contrary, Sachin Kaushik, a priest in Haridwar’s Har-ki-Pauri ghat, says, “Religious sentiments do matter during elections. The Congress and the BJP fight elections based on their individual religious sentiments. The BJP had made the Ayodhya Ram temple an issue and they achieved victory. The 2019 elections will also be fought on such grounds of religious sentiments.”