The high-decibel campaign for elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly ended on Monday. The state which is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), will vote to elect a new government on Wednesday. The campaigning witnessed controversies over remarks like ‘venomous snake’ and ‘Vishakanya’, and rows over ‘Bajrang Bali’ as well as ‘Tipu Sultan’.
The plummeting level of campaign discourse even caught the attention of the Election Commission which issued an advisory to all recognised national and state parties to maintain “the expected level of dignity”, particularly with respect to their designated star campaigners.
Here are a few instances when politically incorrect words were used during the Karnataka election campaign by leaders of several political parties.
PM Modi a poisonous snake: Mallikarjun Kharge
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on April 27 during an election rally in Ron in Gadag district, called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a venomous snake”, leading to sharp reactions from the BJP.
Kharge said in Kannada, “Modi is like a poisonous snake. Don’t try to lick this snake to check whether it is venomous or not. If you taste it, you are dead.”
Following backlash for his statement, also in an apparent lesson from the Rahul Gandhi “Modi surname’ remarks which led to his conviction and subsequent disqualification as an MP, Kharge issued a clarification saying he was not making personal attacks.
“I did not call him (Modi) that. I have said earlier that I do not make personal attacks. What I said was that the (BJP) ideology was poisonous. If you support the ideology and want to taste it, death is certain,” Kharge had said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
In a series of tweets, in Hindi, Kharge explained, “My comments were not a personal attack on Prime Minister Modi or any other individual, but on the ideology represented by them.”
BJP MLA likens Sonia Gandhi to ‘vishkanya’
Following Kharge’s remarks, Karnataka BJP MLA and former union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal likened former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to a “vishkanya” (poisonous maiden) at a poll rally on April 29.
“The entire world appreciates Modi, but the Congress chief compares him to a venomous snake. Is Sonia Gandhi, over whom you go about dancing, a vishkanya?” Yatnal, who is seeking a re-election from Vijaypura, said at a public meeting. He further accused the former Congress chief of “ruining the country” and “working as an agent of China and Pakistan”.
The Congress demanded the legislator’s expulsion over his remarks saying that the BJP has lost “all sense of propriety, political balance”.
Congress party wants to lock Bajrang Bali: PM Modi
Hours after the Congress released the Karnataka poll manifesto, where one of its objective was cracking down on divisive forces such as rioght-wing outfit Bajrang Dal and Islamic organisations like the Popular Front of India, which has already been banned by the Centre for five years.
Modi attacked the Congress claiming that the party wants to “lock up those who chant Jai Bajrang Bali”.
Addressing an election rally in Vijayanagara district, Modi said, “I have come to the land of Hanuman. I am fortunate that I got the opportunity to pay obeisance to the land of Hanuman but see the misfortune that when I have come to pay my respect to Hanuman’s land, at the same time Congress in its manifesto has decided to lock up Lord Hanuman.”
Modi said, “First they (Congress) locked up Lord Rama and now they have vowed to lock up those who chant ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’.”
“It is the misfortune of the country that the Congress had a problem with Lord Rama and now it has difficulty with those who say ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’,” he added, as quoted by PTI.
The Vijayanagara empire of prince Sri Krishnadeva Raya is considered by some historians as the ‘Kishkindha Kshetra’, the monkey kingdom of Vaali and Sugreeva of Treta Yuga or Ramayana era. Right next to Hampi is Anjanadri, the Anjana Hill at Gangavathi in Koppal district, which is believed by many to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. The ruling BJP has decided to build a grand Hanuman temple at Anjanadri hill and develop the region.
‘Nalayak Beta’ barb by Priyank Kharge
Days after Mallikarjun Kharge’s “poisonous snake” barb, his son and Chittapur Congress candidate Priyank Kharge said, “…When PM Modi had come to Kalaburagi, he said Aap sab dariye mat, Banjara community ka ek beta Delhi mein baitha hain (do not be scared, a son from the Banjara community in Delhi). Aisa nalayak beta baithega toh ghar kaise chalega (if son is useless, how will the house run)?”
Later, Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters, “He (Priyank Kharge) never said, don’t put these things in his mouth. He attacked the Parliament member who abused him. So, don’t put in his mouth these words for Modi. Everywhere this is going purposely.”
Death threat to Mallikarjun Kharge
On May 6, the Congress had shared an audio clip purportedly of Manik Rathod, BJP candidate from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district in which he was heard saying in Kannada that he will wipe out “Kharge, his wife, and children”.
Following this, Rajasthan Police had booked Rathod with charges of murder and criminal intimidation for his remarks against the Congress leader.
Himanta Biswa Sarma on Muslim women
Speaking at a poll rally in Shanivarasanthe Madikeri in the Kodagu district of Karnataka for the BJP, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had called for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
“We also have to make Uniform Civil Code. Muslim women and daughters are made to marry over four times. Is it a system? Such a rule should not exist in the world. We have to bring Uniform Civil Code and end this system,” he said.
“Muslim daughters should be made doctors, and engineers, not child-producing machines. BJP has promised of working on Uniform Civil Code if voted to power. I would like to thank the BJP for that,” he added.
‘Finish off’ Siddaramaiah like Tipu: C N Ashwath Narayan
Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan triggered a controversy in February saying former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah should be “finished off” just like the 18th-century Mysuru ruler was.
Addressing a rally at Mandya, Narayan had said if the BJP loses the Karnataka Assembly elections, then Siddaramiah, “who admires Tipu”, will come to power.
“Do you want Tipu or (V D) Savarkar? Where should we send this Tipu Sultan? What did Uri Gowda Nanje Gowda do? You should finish him off the same way,” he said.
Later, as Siddaramaiah sought his resignation over his remarks, he said that he regretted his remarks.
“What I meant by using the phrase was that we should ensure the defeat of the Congress in the next election. I don’t have any personal differences with Siddaramaiah. I have only political and ideological differences,” he said. “If he is hurt by my statement, I express regret,” he had said.
Love jihad important than civic issues: BJP Karnataka president
Earlier, in January, BJP’s Karnataka state president Nalin Kateel said that party workers in the state should focus on the issue of “love jihad” before the assembly elections later this year, instead of “road, gutter, drain and other small issues”.
Kateel made these remarks at the BJP’s ‘Booth Vijay Abhiyaan’ for cadre in Mangaluru on Monday (January 2), and said, “I am asking you people – don’t speak about minor issues like road and sewage. If you are worried about your children’s future and if you want to stop ‘love Jihad’, then we need BJP for that. To get rid of love jihad, we need BJP.”
The term ‘love-jihad’ is often used by the BJP and its ideological affiliates to claim that Muslim men are allegedly luring and forcing Hindu women into marriage to convert them.