Poll season is upon us again and the political rhetoric just got shriller, coarser and more polarised as 2023 is set to witness nine Assembly elections. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Karnataka where elections are due in April. An eighteenth century ruler is getting more prominence than governance issues and the problems plaguing the people of this state whose capital was grandly termed the Silicon Valley of India. That Tipu Sultan, the erstwhile ruler of Mysore, is setting the agenda for what promises to be a deeply divisive campaign speaks volumes of the level to which politics in Karnataka has reached. When Higher Education Minister Ashwath Narayan exhorted voters to ‘finish off’ Opposition leader Siddaramaiah like Tipu, the outrage was only to be expected. While the Congress leader accused Narayan of plotting to kill him, the minister regretted his statement and said it was only meant to target a political rival and not anything personal.
The incident, nonetheless, is an indicator of things to come. The Congress-BJP slugfest in Karnataka over Tipu and other polarising factors is deeply disturbing because the focus should be on developmental issues. The state was ravaged by floods last year that exposed its crumbling infrastructure, particularly in the IT hub Bengaluru. Potholes have claimed more lives in Bengaluru than in other city, the most recent incident being the fatal accident involving a young mother and her two-year-old child. However, the BJP is more bent on raising Tipu Sultan, who is seen by the saffron brigade as a tyrant who oppressed Hindus rather than as the brave ‘Tiger of Mysore’ who fought the British East India Company. In the last few years, the Congress and the BJP have been at loggerheads over the former’s celebration of Tipu Jayanti. There has also been an attempt to wipe out the Tipu years from history books prescribed in the state’s schools.
The focus on Tipu and other divisive issues is perhaps a diversionary tactic to cover up the BJP’s poor governance track record. The charge of 40% commission raised by contractors who have called the Basavaraj Bommai government corrupt continues to haunt the BJP dispensation in the state. It is to paper over these embarrassing shortcomings that the saffron party is resorting to the oldest trick in the book, the bogey of minority appeasement. With the RSS making significant inroads in the bordering districts where there is a sizeable Muslim population, it is easy to instil fear in the minds of Hindus by raising the bogey of love jihad and other supposedly devious practices.
It is a pity that a truly secular, cosmopolitan state like Karnataka has now fallen prey to communal undercurrents. It is the only state in South India where the BJP has been able to make significant inroads but it remains to be seen if the party can retain its hold on government this time round. Will CM Bommai’s promise of a grand Ram temple in the state cut any ice with the voters? Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief J P Nadda have been urging their party colleagues to shun divisive statements and focus instead on developmental issues, come elections and the rhetoric becomes shrill and communal. At the BJP national executive meeting there was a push by Modi to woo the minorities, especially in those seats where they are in sizeable numbers, but Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sent a mixed message when at a recent rally in Bangalore he asked the audience whether they want to be with those who glorify Tipu or those who built the Ram temple.
Polarisation is the winning formula; it has been proved time and again, so the outreach to the backward among the minorities seems very much like paying lip service to the cause of inclusivity. Firm action must be taken against those who think minority bashing is their birthright. They may belong to fringe groups but there are enough members of the ruling party itself who shoot their mouth and continue to embarrass the government. Their pronouncements can be especially damaging to the party and the government at a time when the world’s eyes will be on India as the G20 host and a leading member of the comity of nations.
