Yeddyurappa’s Yatre Concludes In Modi’s Bengaluru Rally, But Contest For Karnataka Has Only Begun

With the assembly elections in Karnataka fast approaching, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are engaging in a fascinating game of punch and counter punch. The BJP’s plan has two major prongs. One is being carried out by the state party and the state leadership through the Parivartane Yatre and the second is being carried out through the heavy involvement of the BJP’s national leadership in the state. The Congress too has its outreach programmes such as the Chief Minister’s Sadhana Samavesha and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara’s tour across the state. This article will look at the BJP’s efforts and will examine whether the Congress has been able to counter it.

The BJP’s Parivartane Yatre, Its Narratives And Its Success

The Parivartane Yatre was planned as a mass contact programme for B S Yeddyurappa to touch every constituency in the state. Over a period of two and a half months, this goal has been fulfilled as the Yatre has touched every constituency in the state. The Yatre attracted huge crowds in coastal Karnataka and across north and central parts of the state. Even in the Old Mysore region, where the BJP has not traditionally been successful, the crowds drawn to the Parivartane Yatre, were much better than expected. As a result, a buzz has been created around the BJP’s electoral campaign.

In the course of the Yatre, the BJP has unequivocally attacked the incumbent Siddaramaiah government on its misrule which includes the state’s declining law and order situation, the sheltering of criminal elements in the cabinet, misappropriation of funds from the central government and practising divisive politics. Yeddyurappa and other senior BJP leaders also emphasised Siddaramaiah government’s indecisiveness regarding the relentless attacks on Hindu activists in the state with more than 20 Hindus killed along with the issues concerning farmers like an improper loan waiver and immobility of irrigation projects. Work done by the previous BJP government headed by Yeddyurappa in the area of farmer’s welfare and infrastructure were also highlighted.

BJP Gets Its National Leaders On The Ground In Karnataka

Immediately after the announcement of the Gujarat and Himachal Assembly poll results, the BJP at a national level, turned its focus to regain power in the only southern state where it had formed a government on its own - Karnataka. The party has, at an unprecedented level, brought in many national level leaders to campaign in the state. While the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, addressed the Yatre in a constituency each, the most popular campaigners from the BJP have been its national president, Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

After launching the Yatre in Bengaluru, Shah was again seen in Holalkere in Chitradurga district, where he reproached the Congress government for hindering the state’s development. He accused the Siddaramaiah government of indulging in vote-bank politics and promoting anti-Hindu activities in the state. To validate his point, Shah pointed out the Congress government’s step of withdrawing all cases against Islamist outfits like the Popular Front of India (PFI). He also spoke about the scandals of the Siddaramaiah government including the Arkavathy land scam and the income tax raid on the residences of the state’s Power Minister D K Shivakumar. Shah stressed that the Centre cared for the development of Karnataka but that the Congress government had misappropriated the funds allocated by the Narendra Modi government. He also attacked the state government for ignoring the misery of the farmers. Shah promised the people that the BJP will ensure that Karnataka surges ahead on the road of development.

Adityanath addressed two massive rallies, one at Hubli and the other at Bengaluru. At both the rallies, the UP Chief Minister fired broadsides at the Karnataka government on the issues of farmer distress, corruption and the victimisation of Hindus. It should be emphasised that his speeches at both the rallies were peppered with references to Karnataka’s heritage and history. At the Bengaluru rally, Adityanath made the pitch that the INC will use Karnataka as its ATM, highlighting the importance of Karnataka to the INC, as the it has no other big state to fund its Lok Sabha campaign in 2019. Both of Adityanath’s visits were not without strong gestures steeped in Hindutva symbolism as he visited the Lingayat Moorusavira Matha in Hubli and the Vokkaliga Adichunchunagiri Matha during his Bengaluru rally.

The Congress’ Counter Punch

As a counter, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah started the Sadhana Samavesha to publicise the achievements of his government in seats held by Congress MLAs. This was primarily achieved through a slew of project inaugurations. The second aspect of this tour was the Chief Minister making a plethora of region specific promises, in order to retain these seats. The third aspect of the tour has been to attack B S Yeddyurappa and Narendra Modi in order to disrupt their image as development-oriented leaders, that the BJP is trying hard to promote. In what is probably reflective of the internal divisions within the state Congress, KPCC chief, G Parameshwar too, has taken out his own tour and is trying his level best to counter the BJP narrative, while also making a case for himself to become the Chief Minister.

In order to counter the national leadership of the BJP, Siddharamaiah tried to play the ‘regionalism’ card accusing the BJP of bringing in ‘outsiders’ like Shah and Yogi to undermine the pride of the Kannadigas. Social media witnessed hashtags like #HogappaYogi and #HogappaShah promoted by handles associated with Congress. Taking the ‘regional’ game plan forward, senior Congress leader and Minister for Industries, R V Deshpande, even demanded that Bengaluru be made the second capital of the Union. The Chief Minister also claimed that the funds allocated by the Modi government were insufficient and thus held the Centre responsible for the drastic conditions faced by Karnataka. The party’s social media wing, too, responded by making a parody video on Adityanath.

However, the Congress’ attempts do not seem to have worked as expected. An example for this is the low turnout in the CM’s Sadhana Samavesha events. Sensing this perhaps, the Congress in Karnataka is trying to emulate the soft Hindutva strategy that Rahul Gandhi used in Gujarat to make some political gains. In one of his rallies in December 2017, Siddaramaiah declared himself to be a devout Hindu who even had ‘Ram’ in his name. Other important leaders of the party like KPCC chairman G Parameswara and D K Shivakumar even went on to make statements proclaiming how the Congress believes in an inclusive and humanitarian version of Hindutva - a term the party has distanced itself from in the past.

A couple of things are clear while observing the Congress’ campaign in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah will use all of his considerable political skill to become the Chief Minister again and the Congress on its part is ready to adopt any and all strategies that can ensure its victory in 2018.

The Congress Sponsored Bandh And The BJP’s Counter Punch

In another Congress move, it covertly sponsored a state wide bandh on 25 January to derail Shah’s rally in Mysuru. They had even planned a bandh today (4 February) to hinder the Prime Minister’s rally in Bengaluru, but had to shelve the plan after the Karnataka High Court intervened. Despite the Karnataka bandh on 25 January being planned to impede the progress of the Yatre, more than 40,000 people were reported to have attended it.

In terms of the narrative, it was business as usual as Shah attacked the Congress for the rising crime against women in the state and for opposing the triple talaq bill. He assured the women in the state that the BJP would protect them along with promising Muslim women that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring them justice. After attacking the incumbent state government for terrorising Hindus in the state, Shah ended with an appeal to the people to oust the Congress from Karnataka.

The War On Social Media

The boxing match that is taking place on the ground in Karnataka has spilled into social media too. This has especially been evident with Siddaramaiah personally taking on Adityanath and Shah through Twitter. On social media at least, the two parties seem to be well matched.

Siddaramaiah kicked off the Twitter war against Adityanath by tweeting that there’s a lot Adityanath can learn from Karnataka to address the reported starvation deaths in his state. In response, Adityanath cited an increase in farmers’ suicides and alleged ill treatment to honest government officials under the Congress administration. Shah and Siddaramaiah too are engaged in an ongoing Twitter battle. For example after the BJP’s Mysuru Rally, the BJP chief criticised the CM of the state tweeting,

Siddaramaiah responded by calling Shah a ‘man without a brain’ and a ‘jail bird’ challenging the BJP chief to present proof of all his allegations. He also poked fun at Shah for ignoring the Mahadayi issue.

So, Who Has Punched Harder?

For any party to win any election, it is imperative that it creates momentum going into it. Crucially for the BJP, the Parivartane Yatre and the participation of its national leaders has managed to create this momentum, for now. The Congress too has tried its utmost to counter the BJP’s on ground efforts. However, it is evident that the Congress’ efforts have not been able to match the BJP’s campaign.

More importantly, the BJP seems to have a plan to sustain this momentum. If previous elections are anything to go by, the PM’s rally in Bengaluru today will be just the beginning of a long chain of such big ticket events. Yeddyurappa too has already stated that he will do another whirlwind yatra. With the BJP upping the ante massively in Karnataka and with the Congress bent upon doing everything to halt the BJP juggernaut in the state, the next few months are going to make for an enthralling campaign.