BJP, SDPI hopeful of poll gains, Congress wary of losing base
BENGALURU: The visuals of students wearing hijab being stopped at the gates of various educational institutes across Karnataka had caught global attention, with protests reported across the world demanding justice for Muslim students. The Karnataka high court is hearing multiple petitions against the state government’s decision not to allow students wearing hijab in classrooms. Despite the criticism and ongoing legal battle, leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) say they are confident that the hijab controversy has shifted the political momentum in their favour in the coastal region of the state.
The coastal region, comprising Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts, is known to be a stronghold of Hindutva politics. However, a look at the results of the two assembly polls in the last decade shows the region has not always been a stronghold of the BJP.
In the 2018 assembly polls, of the six seats in Uttara Kannada, the BJP won four and took its tally to five when Shivaram Hebbar joined the party from the Congress following the political crisis a year later. In Udupi, the BJP bagged all five seats, and in Dakshina Kannada, it won seven out of eight, leaving the Congress with one.
However, in the 2013 polls, the results were drastically different. The Congress won three seats in Udupi, seven in Dakshina Kannada, and three in Uttara Kannada. The Congress was hoping to improve its performance in the region in the upcoming 2023 elections, by taking back some of the seats lost during the Hindutva wave in 2018.
One of the biggest headaches for the Congress, apart from countering BJP’s Hindutva politics, was the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which has been taking over Congress’ Muslim vote bank in the region.
While SDPI didn’t win any assembly seats in the region, its vote share saw an increase. In the 2013 elections, SDPI got a vote share of 3.2% and by the 2018 elections, it increased to 10.5%. SDPI also won six seats in Karnataka’s urban local body elections in December 2021.
Though the protests were triggered by the eight students who were denied entry into an Udupi pre-university college, the BJP has alleged that these protests were backed by SDPI and its affiliate organisation, Campus Front of India (CFI).
In October 2021, pictures of a few Muslim students at the government PU college in Udupi with a CFI banner were shared widely on social media. A message with the photos read, “These students had participated in a protest without knowing that it is a protest by the ABVP. After CFI leaders counselled them, they joined the CFI of their own volition.”
Some students counselled by CFI are part of the current protest. They insist their protest is not political, but a fight for their fundamental rights. However, the protests have resulted in the Muslim community rallying behind these organisations, who have been actively opposing the hijab ban, while Congress was indecisive on its stand initially.
While SDPI gaining brownie points has affected Congress’ chances, it has helped the BJP consolidate its vote bank. A BJP minister said the response they have received across the college gives them confidence that the hijab controversy will help them politically.
“People have understood that hijab has been made into an issue by SDPI and CFI for political reasons. There is anger among people, especially students. We have been accused of creating and organising the saffron shawl protest but the fact is that they happened on their own. This gives us a lot of confidence that people are rallying behind our cause, which demands uniformity over religion,” said the minister, who didn’t want to be named.
BJP’s Karnataka spokesperson Ganesh Karnik claimed that Muslims rallying behind the hijab cause could unite Hindus. “If they take a stand, the Hindu community will also take a stand. Our young girls and boys are not happy with getting a special privilege… about the elections we are confident of retaining power in Karnataka elections next year,” he claimed.
While BJP and SDPI are hoping for gains from the controversy, the Congress is in fix as its plans to win back seats in the region have backfired.
Former Union minister and Congress leader B Janardhana Poojary had called a procession on January 26 in Mangaluru to condemn the Centre’s rejection of the Kerala government’s tableau of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru from the R-Day parade.
In Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, people from Poojary’s Billava community are outraged at the exclusion of the tableau.
“They (Congress) knew that if Billva and Mogaveera (a large vote bank in the region) voted on the basis of caste instead of coming together under the banner of Hindutva, it would help the chances of the Congress. But the hijab controversy has changed the situation towards Hindu versus Muslim,” pointed out a professor at Mangalore University, who didn’t want to be named.
The BJP is confident that regardless of the HC order, the hijab row will help sweep coastal votes, but experts say it is students who will suffer due to this political game.
Political scientist Muzaffar Assadi said the controversy has become a site of contest between religion and education, community and the system.
“Unlike in the past Muslim girls have been opting for higher education in large numbers. But with these developments (like hijab row), there may be a setback with girls withdrawing from secular modern education,” he pointed out.