There is shock and outrage in a section of the media and intelligentsia after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appointed Ramesh Bidhuri as its in-charge for Rajasthan’s Tonk assembly seat. However, the BJP is relishing it.Bidhuri gained notoriety recently by hurling a torrent of abuses at a fellow member of parliament, Kunwar Danish Ali, targeting his Muslim identity on the floor of the parliament. After the initial outrage in the non-BJP world, the party issued a show-cause notice to him. A section of the media pleaded with the BJP to draw a red line that must not be crossed, even if you have a heart filled with anti-Muslim venom. People lamented that the ever-talkative and reactive Narendra Modi chose not to utter a word!The party has also sought to justify and rationalise his abuses by accusing Ali of provoking him first. It was using its time-tested ‘action-reaction’ theory to justify its violence.By making the same abusive MP the party in charge of a constituency like Tonk, the BJP has sent a clear signal to its supporters, which include mainly Hindus, and Muslims as well. Tonk has a substantial Muslim population, with more than 47% of its population following Islam. Hindus make up 50% of its population.By appointing Bidhuri as the poll in-charge, the BJP is sending a clear message that it doesn’t care about the feelings and sentiments of Muslims. That it does not want their votes.The BJP keeps reminding us again and again that for the party, majority means majoritarian, which suggests that its voter base will have Hindus and that there is no equal space for non-Hindus here.Any party would typically aim to build a majority by attracting all sections of the society to its fold. This would make the majority it mobilises a true representative of the people. However, the BJP doesn’t seem to follow this strategy. It has been consistently signalling that it wants to be identified as a “Muslim-hater” party. Nothing else explains otherwise the appointment of Bidhuri as the party’s in-charge in a constituency where Muslims are in decisive numbers.The outburst of Bidhuri was so spontaneous, the abuses flowed so effortlessly that one could realise that this anti-Muslim hatred is a part of his nature, like other BJP leaders.Such an act also humiliates the Muslim community. The party is telling them that it has no intent of amending itself.One has said it before and it needs to be said again that the capacity to spread anti-Muslim hatred is the primary qualification needed in the BJP to gain a seat and rise. That is why all leaders, even those who have spent their political life in a civilised political milieu, start competing with each other in abusing and humiliating Muslims once they are in the BJP. Himanta Biswa Sarma is a glaring example.Bidhuri’s appointment also sends a message to the BJP’s Hindu voters: that this is what we are. You have to accept us with our uncouthness, obscenity, and perversity. You did it when you elected Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath, Giriraj Singh, Anurag Thakur, Pragya Thakur, Sadhvi Prachi and others. You should not expect us to be civilised and a hate spreader at the same time.What I am writing is a repetition but what the BJP has been doing for the last several decades is also a repetition: a repetition of abuse, insult, humiliation and hatred. It is asking its voters to get used to it. It is also telling its elite supporters not to get embarrassed with the likes of Ramesh Bidhuri.Do not ask us to draw a red line because none exists: this is what the BJP is telling all its reluctant supporters. Shed your hesitation and embrace us with our filth and vulgarity. Hate comes with a price.Apoorvanand teaches at Delhi University.