As the Karnataka elections come to a close, the Indian public is now aware of two simple, but strong facts. Firstly, BJP kept its promise of making Karnataka Congress free as it came back to power with a remarkable majority, and the Modi wave, apparently written off after the UP by-polls, is still going strong.
In 2013, following B.S. Yedyurappa’s resignation, a disgruntled and fragmented BJP lost their only bastion in South India to an apparently resurgent Congress in Karnataka, where Siddaramaiah led the party to a whopping win of 122 seats out of the total of 224 seats contested. BJP, who had managed to make a dent in 2008 by getting itself elected to the Karnataka Vidhan Soudha with 110 seats and the support of a few independent MLAs, has managed to come back to power in the state.
5 years later, following massive uproar and anti incumbency against his maladministration and excessive minority appeasement, BJP is coming back in power with again. Defying every conventional tactic, the nationalist, right wing political outfit went out all guns blazing, attacking Congress where it hurt the most, and using all their weapons with perfect precision, which included their trump card, PM Modi.
Apart from the diligent hard work of CM candidate Yedyurappa in uniting the local leadership, a significant credit also goes to PM Modi for taking the opposition challenge head on. Like Gujarat, an apparently resurgent opposition tried every trick up their sleeve, in order to maintain their bastion of Karnataka intact. However, they failed to take two things into account, PM Modi’s massive popularity in the nation and the outrage that followed a biased investigation in the Kathua case, which had a deep influence on Karnataka as well.
When PM Modi arrived on the scene, the situation wasn’t too rosy for either side. Though Congress was facing massive anti incumbency, thanks to maladministration and excessive minority appeasement at the hands of Siddaramaiah government, they still had an upper hand, thanks to their cheap tactics of divide and rule. Even though Yedyurappa had rejoined BJP, it wasn’t enough for the party, until PM Modi stepped in.
With 21 rallies in 10 days, targeting approximately more than 25 constituencies, PM Modi completely turned the tables. Contrary to Congress’ expectations, he took them head on and didn’t even refrain from openly criticizing their policies, from excessive minority appeasement to their maltreatment of the local heroes, which included war heroes like Field Marshal K M Cariappa and General K S Thimayya, something that even the top brass of Congress found it difficult to compete against. When PM Modi hilariously responded to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘15 minute challenge’, the opposition was left at the end of their wits.
Another facet of PM Modi’s fantastic campaign was his massive appeal in the rallies that he participated in. In one such instance, when he was speaking in Hindi, and the translator spoke the same in Kannada, a furor broke out in the masses who wanted PM Modi to continue in Hindi uninterrupted. All the divisive tactics, including the notorious ‘Stop Hindi Imposition’ fell flat on the face with this show of solidarity with Hindi and PM Modi by the Kannadigas.
Also noteworthy is the massive upsurge in the vote share for BJP from the previous election. In 2013, BJP barely managed to get 19.9% of the total popular votes, with only 40 seats out of the 110 seats contested. However, in the current elections, BJP has secured lead on more than 113 seats, well beyond the majority mark, with a massive vote share of 36.7%, significantly better than their performance in 2013.
Interestingly, the seats where PM Modi campaigned for are seeing a comfortable majority for BJP, i.e. almost 21 seats are secure for BJP in Karnataka. Not only that, even the 33 seats where Yogi Adityanath campaigned for BJP, are mostly seeing BJP in comfortable lead over at least 23 of those seats. This lays all the rumors of 2019 elections’ fate to rest. We now know who the ultimate boss is.
