For bjp the focus in karnataka ‘love jihad’ over governance

For bjp the focus in karnataka ‘love jihad’ over governance

The BJP evidently counts on contentious issues such as the border dispute with Maharashtra and corruption in the government to slip into the background if the poll campaign emphasises identity issues.

In recent times, the BJP in Karnataka has struck increasingly strident Hindutva postures ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled in May. The party has drawn a hardening line on issues such as hijab, inter-faith marriages and halal meat and attempted to turn them into fuel for political campaigns. Karnataka BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel’s remark at a party meet in Mangaluru on Tuesday that people should prioritise the issue of “love jihad” over “road, gutter, drain and other small issues” in the Assembly elections has to be seen in the backdrop of this build-up. Kateel may have taken a cue from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who, in Mandya last week, said the people need to choose between Prime Minister Narendra Modi who built the Ram Temple at Ayodhya and developed Kashi, Kedarnath and Badrinath, and “those who glorify Tipu Sultan”, between those who are with the “tukde-tukde gang” and those who are “with patriots”.

The preference for agendas and issues that polarise the electorate could be said to be a part of the BJP’s electoral pitch in other states. However, this strategy was largely untested in Karnataka, where the BJP, primarily under BS Yediyurappa, had sought to win elections through patronage and management of Hindu sects, seers and mutts as well as by privileging promises of better governance. The state has had its share of communal tensions in the past, of course. But these were viewed more as local issues and handled by both party and the government as such. For instance, Hindu-Muslim clashes in the Mangaluru region were seen more as local phenomena whereas the crackdown more recently on Islamist groups such as the Popular Front of India are projected on a pan-state scale. The BJP is now seeking to subsume the regional divisions and caste alignments in state politics within an overarching Hindu identity.

The BJP evidently counts on other contentious issues — from the border dispute with Maharashtra to corruption in government — slipping into the background if the poll campaign emphasises identity issues. But it must know that this strategy diminishes its own government and chief minister, apart from unsettling the calm in a state that has a good track record on governance.