Re: "What is the problem in doing Hindu first politics?"
The reason why Indians voted for Modi again and again (full disclosure: I did not), is because they believed, justifiably IMO, that certain groups were being privileged and he promised that such would not be the case any more. The groups, contrary to popular belief, were not all Muslims, even the most rabid Hindu knows that Muslims were treated like a 'vote-bank' and fared worse in real terms than many other communities. The privileged groups were:
- the 'intelligensia' - the elite, western focused, english educated, secular*, movers and fixers who dictated the conversation and referred to the 'idea of India' without ever pulling into the conversation the average Indian. (Secular in the western sense. In India, a land where belief in divinity is woven into the very fabric of the civilisation, secular meant respect for belief in the divinity of the universe around us.) When these folks decided to disempower the Indians by shutting them up, redefining secular in Western terms and then decided to talk down to the average Hindu for their beliefs, the result was pushback.
- the conservative Muslims- who thought it was OK to push for ideas like Sharia law, Islamic banking, uncontrolled use of loudspeakers and public spaces for prayers, single sitting divorce without assistance to the woman and whose leaders (priests) were allowed entry into the political space as influencers while Hindu religious leaders were frowned upon.
This is why, for example, many Hindus who vote BJP are comfortable with Azim Premji in business, Zaheer Khan in cricket, and AR Rehman in music - it is not Islam they have a problem with, it is the idea of an unfair matchup - Muslims encouraged to stick to their most conservative beliefs (and rewarded for doing so), while Hindus being told to suck it up.
In 2013, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh literally said in public that minorities have the first right to India's resources - notice that he did not say everyone has equal right, or the underprivileged have first right - it was the minorities who have that right, according to him. Is it a surprise then, that the majority voted against his party?