What explains the sudden surge in Hindutva politics in Karnataka?
After Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka now seems to be the state of a political experiment that involves communal polarisation, as a wave of communal unrest has been sweeping the state that was once known for its religious harmony. Of late, the BJPruled state has seen a spate of communal incidents intended at spreading hate and deepening of religious divide between Hindus and Muslims. For months now, Karnataka has been on the boil as Hindutva groups launch campaign after campaign against the state’s minorities.
Although the incidents have been localised, their recurrence is a matter of concern. Obviously linked to the assembly elections due in a year, the situation is likely to persist, as polarisation is said to be intended at helping the BJP retain power in Karnataka where the saffron party formed the government through defections from other parties three years ago. The fact that it is in power makes it possible for the BJP and its right-wing supporters to conduct a socio-political experiment of radical ideas and issues that are in line with the BJP’s strategies and long-term agenda and will also polarise the electorate.
From the anti-conversion bill to the hijab row to the ‘banning’ of Muslims from conducting trade and setting up stalls in religious fairs associated with Hindu sites, from strict implementation of the hijab verdict by not allowing Muslim girls wearing hijab in the exam rooms to the proposal to introduce Bhagavad Gita in the school syllabus and from halal controversy to the call for a ban on loudspeakers for azaan, Karnataka is witnessing rigorous Hindutva mobilisation. Clearly there is a method at play and a simplistic explanation of the aggressive and unconstitutional acts by Hindutva groups would miss the larger undercurrent. So, what explains this sudden surge in Hindutva politics in Karnataka?
Apart from ideological reasons, part of the answer lies in the fact that electorally, the BJP is not on a strong footing in the state. In the recent UP elections, Hindu emotion vote and polarisation played a key role in making BJP’s victory a significant one. The formula of actively mobilising people against minorities that have been successfully tried in the Hindi heartland, particularly in UP, and the western state of Gujarat is now being dramatically played in Karnataka for electoral reasons and ideological cause. This is because the
BJP has never been able to win a simple majority in Karnataka. On both occasions when it formed the government, in 2008 and 2019, it had to cobble together a majority by driving dissension in the Opposition ranks.
Like in the rest of India, BJP’s story in Karnataka started in the 1990s with the Ram temple movement and the decline of the United Janata Dal and Congress. But despite years of hard work by both the BJP and its ideological partners, the party has not been able to build a stable support base across the state. This is because the state’s politics, with an exception of coastal Karnataka which is considered a laboratory of hardline Hindutva, has been primarily dominated by caste identities such as Lingayats and Vokkaligas vying for power. BJP’s expansion in Karnataka has been primarily driven by the popularity of individual leaders like B S Yediyurappa and B Sriramulu who secure the support of their fellow caste voters. Thus, loyalty to these leaders, and not fidelity to BJP’s ideology, has been the primary driver of the BJP’s success in Karnataka.
But things have changed after Yediyurappa’s ouster from the chief minister’s post. Basavaraj Bommai who took charge of the state in July last year is considered a political lightweight with practically no independent base in the state. In Yediyurappa’s absence, the BJP’s old caste calculus is shaky, given that he had brought over the state’s largest caste, the Lingayats, to the saffron fold. Therefore, the BJP is now seeking a more reliable and ideologically driven social base unmediated by individual leaders and banking on Hindutva to see it through. The BJP and its frontal Hindutva organisations are thus busy spreading hate by projecting the Hindus as victims of historical injustice, Muslims as perpetrators of the injustice, and the Congress as an anti-Hindu party.
As fringe Hindutva groups go on enforcing moral policing, the government’s response has been either silence or tacit support. This has emboldened the perpetrators of hate against Muslims, with the chief minister virtually justifying the incidents of moral policing saying they were mere reactions. There is a view that Karnataka voters do not accept aggressive Hindutva. But there is no evidence to say that Karnataka voters have a distaste for the politics of communal divide. In the coastal Karnataka region, for instance, BJP’s polarising politics has given the saffron party good electoral results. The coastal experiment seems to have given BJP the confidence to try out the same electoral strategy in other parts of the state.
Political observers are of the view that the Hindutva organisations’ recent aggressive and relentless attacks on the lives, livelihood, and culture of Muslims in Karnataka are not surprising. What’s surprising, in their opinion, is only their pace and not substance. For, reports suggest that even during the BJP’s earlier stint in power between 2008 and 2013, minority communities were under relentless attacks by the ‘fringe groups’ of the Sangh Parivar as well. While earlier there was indirect political support and protection to such elements, there is now open and articulated support provided by the government. Another difference is said to be the silent support given by dominant castes, classes, and sections of society to Hindutva groups and their acts, which gives some kind of legitimacy to their aggression against the minorities.
Thus, what was once a fringe phenomenon is now becoming part of the mainstream in Karnataka. With aggressive Hindutva now part of the changing polity and society of the state, Karnataka is transforming the template of communal politics.
Ironically, today in India we see violence everywhere in the name of religion.