Karnataka: Siddaramaiah Government’s Communal Politicking

The alacrity and swiftness displayed by the new Congress government in implementing its poll promises in Karnataka is both interesting and intriguing as well. The Congress party’s stint of obtaining an absolute majority, which has many facets, is indeed recommended by certain quarters of media as a classic study of an electoral victory.  The triumph, despite the lacklustre nature of the Congress high command, was steered by the local leadership and party cadres; it is indeed very impressive. With its convincing victory, the party has scripted a history rested on the grounds of massive consolidation of votes and also the bulk transfer of votes. The devastating electoral rout of JD (S) and the retention of the vote share by BJP lends an element of undeniability to this observation. 

The politics of polarisation has always been a pivotal element in Indian elections. In addition, the perpetual surge of the minority population in India, besides demolishing the popular cliches of “dara hua Muslaman”, has made it evident that they have a potential role in changing the final outcome of any election. Hence, the customary appeasement of minorities which has been an integral part of Indian elections has become all the more intense in the recent elections in Karnataka.

Demography is King. With the demographic groups now behaving as cultures, resonating with their ideas, political parties have started investing in wooing them and cultivating them as vote banks. With clearly demarcated religion, caste and linguistic divides, instead of rolling out a uniform developmental plan for the populace in its entirety, winning the favour of specific groups has taken precedence.  Known to vote en masse as a group, courting these groups has become a sure-shot way to crack the complex electoral maze for the political parties. 

In fact, to take on the massive electoral juggernaut, the BJP, the Congress party in Karnataka strengthened its outreach with the leaders who command the above-mentioned groups. As a result, the election manifesto, instead of mirroring the developmental agenda of the party for the general electorate, has essentially turned out to be a document of demands list of these groups. Additionally, the manifesto also peppered with freebies and generous handouts has put Congress ahead of all other parties. Trumping all odds, the two-pronged appeasement and freebies have earned the party a spectacular victory.

While freebies effectively pulled fence-sitters into Congress orbit, the appeasement aspect involved pandering to other influential players in the society like civil society organisations with vested interests. Their silent role in the elections came to light on counting day when political observers the role played by them and religious organisations operating under the guise of NGOs. These groups which played a major role in building a narrative against the BJP as a fascist regime rallied behind the Congress.

Prominent Civil Society Organisations such as Mercy Mission, Eddelu Karnataka (wakeup Karnataka) and Bahutva Karnataka (Pluralistic Karnataka) launched massive campaigns and released a book- “4 Years of BJP Rule: Disillusionment due to dead promises” to shape discourse. The Eddelu Karnataka which has leaders drawn from Dalit groups, Muslims, Christians, Trans and Left groups played a significant role in the regrouping of various anti-BJP forces.

By co-opting these vocal players with extensive outreach, whose support to the party is subjective and selective, Congress has tied itself into knots.  To keep their confidence, the burden of obligatory delivery on the poll promise has become a must. The electoral campaigns of these groups and the solidarity extended by religious groups have played a deciding role in the Karnataka Assembly elections. Having positioned themselves at the helm, it is now Congress party’s payback time.

This overt transactionalism is inexorably the reason behind the Congress party’s single-minded agenda of fulfilling the electoral promises without any delay. Seemingly, the transactional favours that existed in the form of material rewards previously have now graduated into salutary legislation for specific groups in return for their valuable electoral support.

To clinch the electoral mandate, developmental goals have been sacrificed, while changes to some governance measures do find a place in the manifesto, by and large freebies and generous handouts dominated the rooster. The five guarantees- Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuvanidhi and Shakti, free travel for women- positioned the Congress in the pole position.

Congress has taken appeasement politics to the hilt by effectively playing on the anger of the Muslims who were miffed by the rollback of 4% reservation. Drawing parallels between the Bajrang Dal and PFI where there exist none, Congress promised to ban the Bajrang Dal. This some say has been a watershed moment as SDPI the political wing of PFI which earlier announced to contest 100 seats declared that it would contest only 16 seats to help Congress in defeating the BJP after the ban announcement.

In 2018, SDPI and Congress sealed a pact whereby the former pulled back candidates in favour of the latter. The covert and overt arrangement has always existed between the two political entities though they prefer to keep it under wraps except for occasional public outbursts by leaders whenever they feel snubbed. In fact, the Karnataka cabinet of Siddaramiah in 2015 withdrew 135 cases against 1600 activists belonging to the PFI and KFD (Karnataka Forum for Dignity).  PFI and KFD are Islamist organizations linked to the banned Islamist Organization SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) formed in 1977 and banned in 2008.

Baring a perfunctory emphasis on the development agenda which is pushed to the back burner, Congress’s campaign pivoted on social and communal issues besides polarising the electorate has fortified binaries. Left with no middle ground, the Congress which has bargained its administrative governance for votes is now forced to take a firm stance. By doing away with debate and discussion, an intransigent approach has become the norm in Indian politics. The series of decisions taken by the Karnataka Cabinet headed by chief minister Siddaramiah bears testimony to the same.

The first move of the Congress government which assumed charge following the historic mandate has been halting of release of funds to all the projects initiated by the previous government and putting on hold on projects that haven’t commenced. Additionally, several state boards have been dismantled and reconstituted. While there are rather normative actions, by withdrawing the appointment order of slain BJP worker Praveen Nettaru’s wife, Congress has drawn up a political battle along the communal lines.

The omniscient communal overtones in each of the subsequent decisions have hinted at the Congress party’s line of governance for the entire term. The tearing hurry to revoke legislations that have implicit communal repercussions and are deeply connected to the sensitivities of people is unnerving.

The repeal of the anti-conversion law brought enacted by the previous BJP government, the decision to remove chapters on Hedgewar, the founder of RSS and Veer Savarkar have unequivocally underscored its anti-Hindu position. Capitalising on subtle disagreements and communal rifts has always been the GOP’s forte, now taking it to the next level, Congress is undoing legislations of previous government nonchalantly.

Having lost its sense of entitlement and facing the disapproval of the common man for insensitive slipups and motivated disinformation campaigns, the Congress high command has outsourced elections to state leaders. The pecuniary state leaders oblivious of a need for an inclusive, developmental agenda for the state endowed with intellectual treasure and ambient infrastructure indulged in bargained for electoral support in return for favours for minority communities. Embarking on a blundering rampage, Congress declared to overturn hijab ban, anti-cow slaughter act and amendments to Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees act that echoed the central farm laws.

Throwing all sense of discretion to the winds, the bigoted actions of the Congress are typically what it accuses the BJP of – revenge politics. This new trend of getting into power by hook or crook and co-opting with various groups, in this case, vested interests, is going to be devastating for a pluralistic country like India. Despite the imminent threat faced by the indigenous Hindu majority from the militant-proselyting religions and the inexorable rise of conversions, Congress has decided to repeal the anti-conversion legislation without any debate. The anti-conversion law with an imbued legal safeguard is among the last line of defence against the rising menace of love jihad.

Barring the political opposition, BJP, with civil societies and the left-liberal ecosystem firmly on its side, the reckless, politically motivated and communally provocative decisions of the Congress party’s decisions would hardly encounter resistance. Indeed, the Congress party in Karnataka might gallop ahead reminiscing the younger generations of its illustrious religious bigotry that etched the contemporary Indian political history.

This new trend of vested interests casting a disproportionate influence on decision-making and governance issues of an elected government is going to be dangerous for Indian democracy. Successful replication of this template in ensuing state assembly elections can spell political disaster for the BJP and stoke secessionism.

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