For BJP it’s Modi at the expense of all
On May 4, when Pralhad Joshi, the MP representing DharwadHubbali, addressed Hubbali’s opinion-moulders at Kanakadasa College, the burden of his speech was that the Karnataka verdict was not “just another” assembly poll but a vote for the Narendra Modi government.
Joshi used the conflict-ridden zones of West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir as leitmotifs to illustrate the point that since Independence, India has not had a “stronger and more decisive” dispensation than that headed by Prime Minister Modi.
“It’s not just an election to vote Jagadish Shettar (who’s seeking a fifth term from Hubbali-Dharwad Central). This Karnataka election is a mega Congress versus BJP one. In West Bengal, our workers have been killed by the Mamata Banerjee government. Our government has choked the illegal funds that went to the Hurriyat Conference and the forces that patronise the illegal infiltrators coming into Assam. Modiji’s note ban has starved the Maoists of funds,” said Joshi, as stray listeners in a packed hall clapped.
The fabled Modi appeal and charisma cut both ways. Some of those who heard Joshi were asked for their response.
Manjunath, a Lingayat student who stated his family would vote the BJP, said, “If the BJP comes to power in Karnataka, it will be because of Modi’s oratory and dynamism. The state leaders are not up to the mark. They squabble among themselves for the loaves and crumbs of power.”
Maruth HT, a post-graduate student of commerce, was clear that he will vote for a candidate and not a party or Modi. A member of the Nayaka tribal community, Maruth was critical of the Centre’s crop insurance scheme and the “shoddy” implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by the Modi government as he praised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for bringing in the “landmark” legislation and ensuring its benefits reached the targets. “In our villages, the poor and the unlettered don’t know how to claim insurance for their failed crops although the premiums have been deducted from their bank accounts. As for the MNREGA, under the Congress, a basic number of jobs was generated every year. Now the middlemen have become active and take huge cuts from the money paid to those entitled to the scheme. Even MNREGA jobs have become scarcer,” said Maruth.
In Karwar, the headquarters of Uttara Kannada district on the south-west coast, wedged between the lush Sahyadri forests and the Arabian Sea, the BJP rejected the perception that the coast was communally polarised. Manoj Bhatt, the party’s district president, said: “Did Yogi Adityanath (the Uttar Pradesh chief minister) utter anything inflammatory? Modiji never speaks of Hindus and Muslims.” Bhatt said there was a “pro-Modi” mood in Uttara Kannada and the BJP harped only on “development” to capitalise on the “sentiment”. “The Siddaramaiah government failed to use the funds that the Centre generously released. The chief minister has marketed the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme as his baby. The fact is that the Centre has underwritten the scheme,” he alleged.