The Congress, however, owes it largely to the Kannadigas who realised well and in time that adhering to the Saffron ideology would wreak havoc on the secular and pluralistic fibre of the country, so assiduously nurtured by our forefathers.
Behzad Parvez | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — The people of Karnataka deserve all kudos for their overwhelming rejection of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) polarisation politics. The Karnataka elections started with the issue of hijab ban by the Hindutva protagonists and ended up with the unabashed propaganda of “The Kerala Story” movie by the Saffron clan. Both issues directly targeted Muslim women and girls.
The Congress, however, owes it largely to the Kannadigas who realised well and in time that adhering to the Saffron ideology would wreak havoc on the secular and pluralistic fibre of the country, so assiduously nurtured by our forefathers.
This has been unequivocally acclaimed by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Thanking the people of Karnataka for his party’s victory, he said that the “market of hate has been shut and shops of love have opened”.
He also said that the power of crony capitalism has been defeated by the power of poor people.
However, on a scale of 1-10, it would be difficult to analyse the Karnataka elections. What percentage goes to which of the several factors for the Congress victory? The issue has the potential of baffling political pundits and pollsters.
* BJP was made to bite the dust because of the rejection of Hindutva philosophy. The Hijab ban, ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Land Jihad’, anti-halal campaign, Uniform Civil Code, scrapping of quota for Muslims, ‘The Kerala Story’ and finally the hype created over the Congress poll promise of the ban on Bajrang Dal, all seem to have boomeranged on the Saffron party.
* Large-scale corruption by the outgoing Basavaraj Bommai government. And the fact that BJP came to power only after gigantic horse-trading as part of Home Minister Amit Shah’s “Operation Lotus”
* High-pitch campaigning by the Gandhis and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge who himself happens to be from the state and enjoys a large following.
* Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
* Increasing unemployment and steep rise in prices of essential commodities.
* Waning magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have now come to realise that the guarantees on all fronts by the Centre under Modi are nothing but hollow promises. Mere lullabies.
* The incumbency factor. Karnataka did not re-elect a government with a majority since 1978.
Incumbent Chief Minister Bommai, who was also the BJP’s presumptive chief minister, declined to comment on a barrage of questions on the party’s performance. “We will do a detailed analysis once the complete results come. As a national party, we will not only analyse, but also see the deficiencies and gaps at various levels. We take this result in our stride and will come back stronger in the (2024) Lok Sabha elections,” media reports quoted the 63-year-old veteran politician as saying.
All said and done, there seem to be five takeaways for the decline in BJP’s fortunes in the state.
Corruption
The Congress’s spirited campaign against the BJP that focused on corruption appeared to have had some traction with the voters. The Lokayukta investigation which led to the arrest of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa and his son in a bribery case served to reinforce the Congress campaign and hurt the BJP’s image on the corruption plank.
Anti-incumbency
To be sure, the BJP did start with a disadvantage. The BJP has been in power since 2019 after an unlikely coalition government formed by the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular collapsed after a bunch of lawmakers resigned. And Karnataka has never voted the incumbent party to power since 1985.
Reservation and polarisation
The Bommai-led government’s move to scrap the 4% reservation for Muslims in the 2B category of the Other Backward Castes (OBC) in government employment and education, and distribute it equally among the two dominant communities, Vokkaliga and Lingayat castes, was another campaign point for the opposition.
Kannadigas refused to be swayed by the polarisation politics of the BJP. An overwhelming majority of the people of the state seem to have rejected the Hindutva planks of hijab ban, love jihad and other similar issues targeting the state’s 78.93 lakh Muslims constituting (12.92 per cent) of the total 6.11 crore population. Karnataka also has 11.43 lakhs (1.87 per cent) Christian population. This segment of society and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes also felt threatened by the forces bent upon thrusting Hindutva ideology down their throats.
Rising prices
The rise in costs of essential commodities such as fuel and cooking gas, and unemployment became a focal point for the opposition Congress and JD(S) to mobilise support amongst the poor and middle class.
The opposition campaign did lead the BJP to try to neutralise its impact among voters by promising three free cooking gas cylinders to BPL families every year, setting up Atal Aahara Kendras to provide subsided food, and half a litre of free Nandini milk to BPL families every day and 5 kg rice through monthly ration kits.
Rebellion and infighting
The BJP’s attempt to effect a generational change by denying tickets to a raft of old-guard leaders including former chief minister Jagdish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi gave the Congress an opportunity to project the BJP as an anti-Lingayat party.
