The polarisation factor in poll-bound Karnataka has shot up manifold with the scrapping of the four per cent Muslim reservation, the debate around the legacy of 18th-century ruler Tipu Sultan, the hijab controversy that saw the state being roiled by tension over a government order barring entry to colleges of Muslim girls wearing hijab or headscarves and the ban on radical Islamist group Popular Front of India (PFI).
That’s not all. Right-wing organisations demanded a ban on Muslim traders from setting up stalls at temple fairs and also urging Hindus not to buy meat sold by Muslim butchers. In 2021, the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government prohibited trade and slaughter of cows in a state where some 13 per cent of people are Muslims.
These incidents, and there are many more, are all finding their way into the political discourse in the state and leaders from across the country make a beeline to turn the unpredictable Karnataka electorate in their favour. Moves to invoke these incidents are largely being seen as an attempt to spin the current political debate on a stagnant economy, unemployment, inflation and corruption to the one that the BJP loves the most– that of Hindu-Muslim polarisation.
Scrapping of the Muslim OBC quota
With the 4 per cent quota for Muslims under the OBC reservation being distributed equally among the two dominant communities – the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats – Muslims are at the receiving end of politics.
By doing away with the Muslim quota, reservation for Vokkaligas increases from 4 per cent to 6 per cent, and for Lingayats from 5 per cent to 7 per cent. Both form a crucial vote bank and the BJP fears that the exit of some high-profile leaders — Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa has already been sidelined — could turn the tide against them.
Lauding the move, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP does not believe in appeasement politics and blamed the previous Congress government for granting reservation to minorities to further its appeasement politics.
However, the 4 percent Muslim quota was implemented by the Janata Dal government led by HD Deve Gowda in 1994 wherein 4 per cent of seats in educational institutions and state government jobs were to be reserved for Muslims.
While the Congress promises to restore the Muslim quota if it returns to power, polarisation has brought the BJP great electoral dividends in a state with a medley of castes, linguistic groups and religions.
The Karnataka BJP has won a majority of the parliamentary seats in four successive Lok Sabha elections. Since 2008 the party has done very well in three of the six regions in the state, reported India Today. And they are Mumbai Karnataka, Hyderabad Karnataka, and Coastal Karnataka. The three regions account for 102 out of the total of 224 assembly seats in the state.
Tipu Sultan vs VD Savarkar
The BJP also pitted Tipu Sultan against the Hindutva ideologue and the saffron party’s iconic figure VD Savarkar. BJP Karnataka President Nalin Kumar Kateel went to the extent of stating: “This time, the Assembly elections will not be fought between Congress and BJP, but between the ideologies of Savarkar and Tipu.”
Such comments end up flaring tensions as was witnessed in Yadgir district of North Karnataka. A row broke out between two groups over naming of a junction after Tipu or Savarkar, forcing the police to issue prohibitory orders.
PFI ban
Following multiple raids and arrests, the Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September 2022. Of course, the BJP was euphoric as the party has often accused the Congress of being hand in glove with the radical Islamic group due to withdrawal of cases against PFI activists during the tenure of Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, including before the 2018 Assembly elections.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who hit the campaign trail on Wednesday, also lauded the BJP government in the state for cracking down on the radical Islamist group. “On one hand, you have the BJP government which has delivered on the promise of development and cracked down on organisations like PFI and ended the unconstitutional reservation granted to Muslims and on the other, you have Congress which only practises the politics of appeasement,” Adityanath said addressing a poll rally in Mandya.
Hijab controversy
The hijab became the subject of a fierce debate in the country when six teenagers at a government-run college in Karnataka’s Udupi district started protesting after they were barred from classes for wearing the hijab.
The issue quickly turned divisive with Hindu students turning up in colleges sporting saffron shawls.
While Udipi district in coastal Karnataka has long seen radicalisation among student groups whether it is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, or the Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic group, PFI.
However, locals say that sporadic incidents of questioning headscarves and skull caps inside schools and colleges have been witnessed earlier as well. But they never blew up to this proportion. With increasing polarisation, it is different now.
All these incidents have polarised opinion, with critics seeing them as attempts at marginalising minority Muslims by Prime Minister Modi’s BJP government. On the other hand, the involvement of individual people and radical groups of the Muslim community in the killings of Hindu activists in different regions of Karnataka and the cooker bomb blast case, has only made the situation worse for the community.
But polarisation could also backfire and end up sullying the image of Karnataka, central to Modi’s push to expand the party’s fledgling footprint in south India. Karnataka is only one of five southern states where the BJP has won power.
While the Karnataka state assembly has seven MLAs from the Muslim community and all are from the Congress party, according to political analysts, Muslims can win in 21 assembly constituencies and play a deciding role in a large number of seats across the state, reports IANS.
Karnataka will vote in a single phase on May 10, and the results for a total of 224 Assembly seats will be declared on May 13.