BJP’s Defeat In Karnataka: Many Hindu Voters Were Pained At The BJP Beguile Of Anti-Muslim Politics
By
Syed Ali Mujtaba, New Age Islam
22 May 2023
When the
campaign in Karnataka reached its crescendo, PM Modi’s in his speech made a
bizarre claim that the ‘Vokkaligas’ caste had killed Tipu Sultan. Factious as
it may sound; it triggered a protest from the Vokkalingas community. This
factious tale which did not exist in the popular culture turned heads and with
a smile laughed at the Gujarati Banya, that was teaching the Kandigas
their piece of history. Swiftly, the premier religious leader of Vokkaligas’
Sri Adichunchanagiri Swamiji, rubbished the PM’s claim saying there is only gas
and no substance in this gossip.
Narender Modi, PM
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Another,
hara-kiri PM Modi did was to give a call to the voters to say “Jai Bajrang
Bali” while casting their ballots in the elections. This left the voters
baffled as they did not know what does it mean in the voting sense. This war
cry mostly used to lynch Muslims in north India is not a
PM Modi
right after coming to power in 2014 had said; “Na Khayoon Gaa, Na Khanedonga”
to tackle corruption in the country. Corruption hitting the roof in Karnataka and
PM’s indifferent attitude toward it has made people think about whether he is a
leader or a deceiver. Remember he came to power in 2014 on his famous
anti-corruption campaign.
The BJP
government in Karnataka has raised the corruption bar to an abnormal
level. An astonishing 41% of the BJP’s
own supporters told a survey, that corruption had increased phenomenally under
the BJP rule.
The Prime
Minister once claimed that the previous Congress state government was demanding
10% in bribes from contractors but now the BJP ministers are asking the
contractors to pay a whopping 40% as bribe.
In November
2021, the Karnataka State Contractors Association which included many BJP
supporters wrote to the Prime Minister complaining about the 40% kickbacks
culture prevalent in the state. He did
not reply. Four months later, the
contractors sent similar protests to the Chief Minister and Governor but still,
nothing changed.
In April
2022, a contractor hanged himself after a minister demanded 40%. The Association’s complaints continued and
another letter to PM Modi went unanswered.
PM’s complacent inaction on the corruption issue, makes him sallow his
own words “Na Khaoon Gaa, Na Khanedonga.”
In March
2023, as state election campaigning began, the Association linked its 40%
grievance to the government’s failure to release Rs. 22,000 crores, as the
contracts stipulated. They threatened to
protest at every district headquarters and the Chief Minister’s residence. The corruption scandal in Karnataka is far
more public now and it had a telling impact on the voters in the 2023 election.
Why PM Modi
did not respond to the allegation of corruption by the contractors. This was
because, despite his supposed omnipotence and stated abhorrence of corruption,
he lacked the will to tackle the problem of corruption. The buzz word is “Na
Khayoon Gaa, but Khanedonga.”
The
power-drunken PM has not only become complacent about the issues on the ground
he lives in a make-belief world where he thinks his charisma, his oratory,
vastly superior campaign funds, and control of the media, can swing all the
election in his favor. That belief was apparent in his Karnataka
campaigning.
Caste
Matrix in Karnataka:
The unpopularity of the BJP government has to be seen in the drift of the caste
matrix that once gathered around the BJP axis.
The Lingayat votes (17 %) that always consolidate in favour of the BJP
in the past, this time did not behave in the same manner. Lingayat is the
dominant community in Karnataka remains under the control of its ‘Mutts’ on which the BJP has considerable influence
but this time the Lingayata broke free. In comparison to 2018 when Lingayat
gave 38 seats to the BJP, in the 2023 elections, it gave only 15 seats to the
BJP. This is out of the 70 seats where they are in winning position and the BJP
fielded 69 candidates from this community. Lingayat support for the BJP dipped
to 56%, with 29-30% going to Congress.
In southern
districts where the Vokkaligas are dominant, the voters gave JD(S) its
traditional party only 19 seats which is a huge decline from its past four
elections of 37, 40, 28, and 58. In the Vokkaligas stronghold, the battle was
between Congress and the JD(S), and this time the Vokkaligas shifted towards
the Congress. The BJP found it difficult to make gains in this region because
its main backers, the Lingayats, are present there only in pockets.
Game
Changer: The game
changer was the consolidation of Muslim tribal, Dalit votes in favour of the
Congress in the 2023 state election. About 63% of Dalit votes across the state
went to the Congress. Congress also won support from the OBCs, Adivasis (a
small group in Karnataka), and solid consolidated votes of the Muslims, much of
which had previously gone to the JD(S). This consolidation of votes by the poor
and oppressed people of Karnataka that suffered due to the anti-people policy
of the BJP actually turned the table in Congress’s favour.
As far as
Muslims are concerned, in the past, the community voted for the JD(s) and the
BJP. This time when the BJP raked up issues of hijab and halal it alienated the
Muslim community to the core. Adding to the fuel was the cancelation of
reservations for Muslims under 2B of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
This caused huge resentment among the Muslim community in Karnataka.
The
anti-Muslim policy of the BJP gained no traction in the deeply Hindu religious
society of the southern Indian state. The war against Islam and Muslims that’s
played in north India to win election after election was no music to the ears
of the south Indian voters. In fact, many Hindu voters were pained at the BJP
beguile of anti-Muslim politics.
The Muslims
in Karnataka taught a lesson or two to the north Indian voters. They did
tactical voting in favor of the opposition candidate of the BJP and did not cut
votes among themselves for electing a Muslim candidate. For Muslims, the goal
was clear and that was to defeat the BJP. This proved the best way to kick out
the BJP from Karnataka.
Against
this backdrop, a rainbow coalition of Muslims Dalits, and tribals was formed to
drive out the BJP from Karnataka. This coalition firmly stood up to the
consolidation of the Lingayat/BJP votes to seal the fate of the BJP in South
India. Due to the consolidation of Muslim Dalit and tribal votes twelve BJP ministers
were defeated in the 2023 assembly election in Karnataka.
The
Karnataka election result tells us that with Congress winning 135 seats in an
assembly of 224, the BJP may not be able to succeed in its game to wrest power
even if it loses the election by enticing ruling party legislators to defect
them to its camp as it did in many states.
Now with
the 2024 general election due in no time, it remains to be seen how the
electorates may behave on an all-India scale. The hunch is, if Karnataka is a
sign of winter, spring is not far away.
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Syed Ali
Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai.
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/bjp-defeat-karnataka-hindu-voters-anti-muslim/d/129829