Victory for Democracy: Congress Karnataka strategy backfires as divisive politics fails miserably

The move to grant a separate religious status to Lingayats backfired for the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly Elections. The party lost badly in the region of Bombay Karnataka, which is dominated by Lingayats. In fact, Lingayats voted en mass for the BJP, helping them to get a simple majority in the assembly. BJP is expected to get 30 seats out of 50 in the region, as indicated by trends. BS Yeddyurappa, the CM candidate for BJP, popularly known as “Lion of Shikaripura” will most likely be the Chief Minister of the state. Shikaripura is located in Shimoga district of Central Karnataka; Yeddyurappa has decimated all his rivals in Shikaripura over the years and has now represented the seat seven times since 1983. Yeddyurappa is himself from the Lingayat community. Lingayats were not completely impressed with Siddaramaiah’s decision because the move was inspired by his party’s decade’s old divisive project to divide Hindus along caste lines.

The attempt by Siddaramaiah to break Hinduism with a new terminology known as AHINDA did not work for him. AHINDA stands for Alpasankhyataru (Minorities), Hindulidavaru (Backward Classes) and Dalitaru (Dalits). Congress performed badly even in constituencies dominated by people of these groups. Both majority communities of the state Linagayat-Veershaiva(17%) and Vokkaligas (8.16%) were not happy with his government, as Congress lost most of seats where they constituted a significant voter base. The move by Congress to distribute freebies on the lines of Tamil Nadu also did not reap them electoral benefits. Congress government had promised to run affordable “Indira Canteens” inspired by “Amma Canteens” in Tamil Nadu. The people of Karnataka, having voted Siddharamaiah out of power, sent out a clear message that they don’t want free food, instead, they want development and good governance, which is why they voted BJP in the power.

Congress had also tried to play the divisive card by creating a North-South divide in Karnataka to defeat the BJP, which did not go down well with the people. Siddaramaiah was playing the regionalism card as the elections approached by asking for a separate Flag for Karnataka. By voting him out of power, Kannadigas have taught him a lesson that they do not want an anti-nationalist government as their representative. Congress tries to appease minorities by celebrating ‘Jayantis’ of anti-Hindu tyrants like Tipu Sultan, but with BJP performing well in Muslim dominated constituencies it is very clear that Muslims did not fall for the Muslim appeasement trap. Party President Rahul Gandhi played his role in ensuring defeat for the Congress; he campaigned in the state extensively since the beginning, but Congress ended up losing in most of the constituencies where he campaigned. This has happened with Rahul Gandhi in the previous elections in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra as well.

Congress lost its strongholds like the old Mysuru region to the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular). The strong performance by JD(S), which is primarily a small farmer based party in southern Karnataka, shows that the Congress government was not even popular among the farmers, despite making bold claims and unattainable promises. In the previous elections, Congress had done well in the old Mysuru region. The most interesting thing about the election was BJP performed exceptionally well in Hyderabad Karnataka (Northeastern part of the state), which was primarily because PM Modi campaigned extensively in the region. This goes to show his pan-Indian popularity.

10 of the sitting ministers of Congress ended up losing their seats, as the anti-incumbency wave couldn’t be placated by senior Congress leaders and the divisive campaign failed to make an impact. The divisive campaign run by Congress by categorizing Lingayats as a separate religion, appeasement of Muslims by celebrating controversial tyrants like Tipu sultan, coining new terminologies like AHINDA, all failed to divide Hinduism and did not go well with the people.

Congress turned to their favourite excuse: tampering of EVMs to defend the loss, rather than admitting defeatand congratulating the BJP on this massive victory. With the Grand Old Party left with only Punjab, Pondicherry and Mizoram, Congress-Mukt Bharat is not just a reality, it is an inevitable outcome in the year to come. Here is a tweet from Omar Abdullah to keep you smiling for the rest of the day.