Karnataka Elections: With Lingayats pushing back, BJP struggles to subsume caste identities within Hindutva narrative

The lessons drawn from the 2019 general elections in Karnataka have set the BJP’s agenda down the line.

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) contesting in an alliance in Karnataka, with the two parties running a coalition government in the state back then. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) went on to trounce the coalition, winning 26 of the 28 seats, and the Congress and the JD (S) had to settle for a seat apiece.

The BJP interpreted the results as a cue for engineering defections, thus leading to the installation of a BJP government headed by BS Yediyurappa. The lessons drawn from the 2019 general elections in Karnataka have set the BJP’s agenda down the line.

The Post-BSY Planning

Yediyurappa was replaced with protégé Basavaraj Bommai in 2021 and, in a marked shift in strategy, the saffron party sought to replicate its tried-and-tested Hindutva prototype in the southern state. The prototype essentially involves pursuing an aggressive brand of the BJP’s core Hindutva ideology, in place of the social engineering it had followed until then.

It was deemed necessary on account of the BJP’s failure to register an absolute majority in the Karnataka assembly elections in so many attempts. The dependence on an ageing Yediyurappa aside, the BJP needed to grow out of the Lingayat stranglehold to become a pan-Karnataka party.

One of the major reasons for the BJP’s stunting in the state has been its inability to cater to the Vokkaligas in the Old Mysuru region. The Congress-JD (S) alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election came as a blessing in disguise to the BJP to gain a foothold in the region.

Stuck With The Lingayats

In the last three decades, the saffron party’s fortunes in Karnataka have closely mirrored that of Yediyurappa, its tallest leader in the state. So it didn’t come as a surprise that the BJP made an exemption for Yediyurappa to become CM, even after he crossed the party’s unofficial retirement age of 75.

However, at some point, the BJP had to plan for the future. And hence Yediyurappa’s stepping down and Bommai’s takeover. And yet, Bommai is seen to be a short-term option today.

In any case, Bommai wasn’t the BJP’s first choice to succeed Yediyurappa. Bommai’s elevation was, at the most, a signal to the Lingayats to stay put with the BJP after Yediyurappa’s stepping down.

BL Santhosh’s Long Wait

The million dollar question then is who would be named chief minister if the BJP were to secure a majority, defying all odds. The question becomes important because the BJP hasn’t projected Bommai as its chief ministerial candidate, as yet.

For all practical purposes, Bommai is keeping the seat warm for BL Santhosh, BJP’s general secretary (organisation), deputed from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Now, Santhosh has never hidden his chief ministerial ambitions in the past. And he has been going about his ambition very much like a certain Narendra Modi, once upon a time in Gujarat.

Having been made general secretary of the Karnataka BJP in 2006, Santhosh went on to become national joint secretary – in-charge of southern states – in 2014, before succeeding Ram Lal as general secretary (organisation) in 2019. It may be remembered that Modi was named Gujarat CM in 2001, when he held the same charge.

However, while his status as a Brahmin might earn Santhosh brownie points within the RSS, the same becomes a liability in the electoral arena, as Brahmins make up less than 3 percent of Karnataka’s population.

Hardline Hindutva In Motion

Besides, Bommai has also failed to emerge as a leader in his own right during his short term. Bommai’s reign saw Karnataka become a Hindutva laboratory of sorts: Issues such as Halal meat, Hijab, Tipu Sultan have all been raked up in the process, pitting the Hindu majority against the 13 percent Muslims.

True, this model is not something entirely alien to Karnataka politics. Coastal Karnataka has been a communal hotbed for decades, and the BJP’s predecessor, the Jana Sangh, first made its mark here. As far back as 1968, the Jana Sangh had captured the Udupi municipality, led by VS Acharya, who later went on to serve as Home minister under Yediyurappa.

However, this strategy had not paid dividends elsewhere in the state. In fact, the BJP has had to rely heavily on the Lingayats in north and central Karnataka to come to power in the state. Today, the hardline approach is championed by the likes of BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, CT Ravi, Tejasvi Surya et al who collectively owe their allegiance to Santhosh.

Damage Control

Alas, the limitations of employing the approach – at least in the short term – have dawned on the BJP now.

The rehabilitation of Yediyurappa to the BJP’s parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body of the party, was essentially damage control. Yediyurappa leading the party’s election campaign makes it even more apparent.

The BJP might have succeeded in tilting the electorate rightwards in states such as Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh with this approach, but it would require more time to pull this off in Karnataka. It could have gone the whole hog on hardline Hindutva only by risking a huge setback at the hustings.

The prevailing anti-incumbency against the Bommai regime complicated matters further. The large-scale Lingayat desertions from its ranks may not be entirely incidental, as the community would have surely gauged the BJP’s long-term strategy in Karnataka by now.

But make no mistake, the BJP’s aborted attempts to push the Hindutva narrative to subsume caste identities will be a decisive factor in this election.

Anand Kochukudy is a Kerala-based journalist and columnist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.