Search for the decisive edge

While photo finishes cannot be written off, BJP’S political push in Karnataka has come with a recognition of its weaknesses

I HAVE BEFORE me an edition of the famous periodical Lankesh Patrike, from September 1994, with a scathing cover headline that translates to: ‘November Elections, Five Parties in the Fray, Five Hundred Scoundrels, Innumerable Problems.’ Numerous photographs of leaders outline the headline. Inside, a two-page article mourns the many evils bedevilling the assembly elections of that year — rampant corruption across parties, lack of genuine leaders, communal tension — all of which remain prime issues that the average voter must navigate even today. Lankesh Patrike had created, in the Eighties and Nineties, a daring adversarial discourse which revelled in mocking the corrupt political class. As the decades rolled by, media houses became targeted by increasingly bad actors on the political stage, who have now become elephants in the room that cannot be made to budge.

Today, the political establishment comfortably secures court-mandated gag orders that prevent journalists from publishing any potentially defamatory content. Reports show that there are presently more than 600 suits registered against media houses in Bengaluru courts, involving 23 politicians from the BJP, eight from Congress, and three from the JD(S). The most shocking repercussion of such unprecedented immunity came to light recently in the context of the serial sexual abuse incident involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who had secured for himself a gag order last year. Three days before the Lok Sabha polls in Hassan this April, a bevy of pen drives were distributed across Hassan, carrying thousands of videos where Prajwal is allegedly seen abusing and molesting women — the victims include helper-women in the Revanna household and wives of local JD(S) workers and police officers, who have been traumatised by the predatory and feudal establishment into keeping fearfully silent. Prajwal has fled the country, but will eventually have to return and face the consequences. It is ultimately the patriarchal underbelly of the political class that has come fully unveiled in the course of the last two weeks. It is a cesspool, and a shockingly shallow one at that. His father HD Revanna was arrested on Saturday after allegedly trying to kidnap and intimidate a witness. All this is a death knell for the JD(S), whose sharp fall from grace is going to open up a fresh political vacuum in the future.

The BJP’S political push in Karnataka had begun soberly with a recognition of its weaknesses — it had denied its most fervent hardliners a ticket, and entered into a desperate alliance with the JD(S), once its staunch enemy, to consolidate their Vokkaliga vote-base in south Karnataka. Carrying neither the anti-corruption wave of 2014, nor the rhetoric of 2019’s surgical strikes, this is the first time the BJP is organising itself solely around an unfluffed Modi factor, which is poised to yield only diminishing returns. Having hastily recognised this, the campaign retreated to familiar ground — communal tension. The murder of a Congress legislator’s daughter by a Muslim man became a war cry around which the BJP’S campaign coagulated, seemingly oblivious to the fact that entitled men knifing women has become a distressingly common occurrence around the country, cutting across religious boundaries. This kind of politicking is, of course, an old trick. In 2017, the tragic death by drowning of a young man named Paresh Mesta in Uttara Kannada had been funnelled into allegations of torture and “jihad”, spawning violent protests and a bandh. The CBI concluded later that it was merely an unfortunate accident. There are numerous other such instances.

The 14 seats of the northern half of Karnataka that go to polls on May 7 will largely hinge on the Lingayat voter-base that dominates the region. The BJP presently holds all 14 seats, but infighting within their own cadre, rebellion against the dominance of the Yediyurappa family, the impact of the Congress’ guarantee schemes on women and aggrieved farmers facing acute drought, will all be factors that are going to significantly dilute the BJP’S vote bank. Dingaleshwar Swami, head of a Lingayat mutt in Shirahatti, has deemed the task of defeating Pralhad Joshi (the sitting four-time MP from Dharwad) to be no less than a personal dharma yuddha, having also criticised his non-performance in matters of health and education over the last 20 years. The contest in Shivamogga is intriguing as well. It is a three-way battle between KS Eshwarappa (who is personally engaged in an ego-duel with Yediyurappa), BY Raghavendra (son of Yediyurappa), and Geetha Shivarajkumar, (daughter-in-law of the film star Dr Rajkumar). The Rajkumar family is enormously well-respected across the state and carries a legacy of philanthropy, with a particular emphasis on the education and rehabilitation of girls and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. Geetha Shivarajkumar also happens to be the daughter of former chief minister Sarekoppa Bangarappa, whose legacy is strong in the region. These could potentially supply the decisive edge.

While photo finishes cannot be written off, pollsters have predicted that the Congress is likely to win between 13-18 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. As the world’s largest voting exercise proceeds apace, the overarching theme of this election season — hate, bile, and slander — continues to keep level with the rising mercury. One hopes that civil society will recognise why political accountability, empowerment of women, economic distress, and climate change must ultimately override the manufactured optics of caste, communalism, and hero worship.

Raghavan is an independent writer and researcher from Mysore. A New India Foundation fellow, his book, Rama, Bhima, Soma is forthcoming