The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept the 2018 Assembly polls in coastal Karnataka by highlighting the “murders six Hindu youths” during the Congress regime (2013-2018) in the State, and by projecting itself as the custodian of Hindutva, seems to have shifted its focus this time. The rhetoric heard more often during this campaign is around “nationalism” and “development”. Moreover, caste calculations have come into play in a more pronounced way this time than ever before in the BJP’s scheme of things.
Of the 19 Assembly seats in the three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada, the BJP had won 16 seats in the previous Assembly elections, leaving three to the Congress. It snatched one more seat (Yellapura in Uttara Kannada) from the Congress in the 2019 by-election, increasing its tally to 17.
Of its 17 incumbent MLAs, the BJP has changed six by fielding novices for the May 10 election. It has fielded one more novice, taking the tally to seven. The Congress has fielded eight novices, including Nivedith Alva, son of former Union Minister and former Governor Margaret Alva, from Kumta in Uttara Kannada.
Why the shift
The shift in the focus by the BJP is perhaps to mask the perception that after targeting the Congress, the “double engine government” could do little to protect its own foot soldiers. The murder of Praveen Nettaru, a BJP Yuva Morcha member in Dakshina Kannada, in the Parliamentary constituency of Nalin Kumar Kateel, who heads the Karnataka unit of the BJP, on July 26, 2022, has the party on backfoot. Allegedly killed by cadres of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), this death has severely dented the image of the party in the region. The incident, among other things, led to the PFI’s ban by the Union government. The investigation into this incident was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Secondly, while the BJP focused on the death of 18-year-old Paresh Mesta, who was aligned with right-wing organisations in Honnavar (Uttara Kannada) in December 2017 (under the Congress regime) as a “communal murder” and used it in big way in the 2018 elections, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the investigation, filed a B (closure) report, terming the death an accident in 2022. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been citing the closure report as testimony to the BJP’s “communal agenda”.
Nettaru’s murder has also sharpened the debate on the issue of caste. He was from the Billava community, which is under Other Backward Castes (OBC) list, and present in large numbers in the region as a political force. The people of the community were very upset over the murder as many of them identified themselves with the Sangh Parivar. Two Ministers in the BJP’s State Cabinet from the coastal region represent this community.
The Congress has been vocal in alleging that the Sangh Parivar “uses” Billava youths as its foot soldiers who end up as victims of communal violence, or in jails as accused in cow vigilantism or “moral policing” cases. To counter this, the BJP has fielded four Billava candidates this time — three sitting MLAs and one new one face. In addition, the party has taken up a slew of measures to win their confidence.
Billava outreach
The State government has created a Billava Development Corporation and opened four residential government schools, including three in the coastal belt, and named them after the community’s icon, Narayana Guru. It named a government bus stand (at Puttur) after Koti and Chennaya, the two folk heroes revered by the community. A prominent circle in Mangaluru city, the Lady Hill Circle, has been renamed after Narayana Guru. A training school named after Koti and Chennaya has been opened in Udupi district to help those interested to joining the Indian Army.
Several national and local leaders visiting the coastal belt have been using far less of Hindutva rhetoric and focusing more on the “sabka vikas” (progress for all) mantra.
The Congress, on its part, has announced a separate charter for the development of coastal Karnataka. It includes reconstituting the Coastal Development Authority as a statutory body with an annual budgetary allocation of ₹2,500 crore to create employment and investment opportunities, promoting Mangaluru as the next hub of the IT and garment industries, and the creation of the ‘Narayana Guru Development Board’ with an annual outlay of ₹250 crore for rehabilitating those involved in preparing liquor and shendi (a drink extracted from the sap of the eechalu palm tree). Similarly, the Bunts Development Board — Bunts are a prominent community and a political force in the region — with an annual outlay of ₹250 crore has been promised. Every fisheries worker from the Mogaveera community — who are in large number and have a say in the voting — has been assured of ₹10 lakh insurance cover, while ₹1 lakh interest-free loan has been assured for fisherwomen, among other things. Congress leaders are targeting the BJP mainly by levelling the “40% commission” charge of corruption, with far less focus on ideological issues around the Hindutva plank.
Whether this will remain the tenor of campaign in its last leg or whether Hindutva will find its way back into the rhetoric is yet to be seen.
