Belgaum, the ‘sugar bowl’ of Karnataka, has turned into a boiling pot amidst the heat of Assembly Elections 2023, with the war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The farmers are, however, angry.
The farmers say they have presented their demands and are ready to support any political party that agrees to fulfil them.
Kattis and Jarkiholis are powerful political ‘sahukar’ families in north Karnataka, which has strong sugar barons who can sway the elections in Belgaum. And the ‘Lords of the Party’ that come to power in the state will rule over the sugarcane kingdom for the next few years.
The Jarkiholis and Kattis literally own all the sugar mills in the state. Belgaum is known for its seven rivers and can irrigate its rich sugarcane belt.
Belgaum sends 18 MLAs to the Assembly, the second-largest district after Bengaluru Urban. The entry of smaller groups like the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi are likely to split the BJP votes, while the BSP may eat into the Congress marginally.
The sugarcane belt has a high number of Marathi-speaking citizens, about 40 percent, in some constituencies.
Why the BJP ‘doesn’t want to take a chance’
When asked why so many national leaders of the BJP are descending on north Karnataka, a local BJP leader in Gokak, who did not want to be named, said: “Apart from the slipping Lingayat vote, the leaders are worried that the splitting of votes by the Marathi groups may affect critical constituencies. We don’t want to take any chances.”
“At least half the seats will be wrested by mill owners, but the sugarcane farmers are cut up with the policies of the BJP government, which is yet to withdraw the three farm laws that were retracted at the Centre,” said Veerasangaiah, farmers’ leader of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.
Will the farmers, cultivating over 2 lakh hectares, influence the poll result is a moot point. “A good chunk of the migrant labour force that move around the state in the harvesting season are likely to vote for the Congress and the mood is in their favour,” the veteran farmer added.
Emergence of local groups
“Many progressive groups have come together as Sarvatrika Arogya Andolana - Karnataka (SAA-K) and we met political leaders asking them to include promises on health facilities. The farmers of the sugarcane belt and their families suffer from lack of proper facilities,” said SAA-K’s Kiran Bedi, a transgender from Belgaum who met Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi after holding a press conference in Belgaum, along with Gopal Dabhade, an access to meds expert.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, who switched to the BJP camp from the Congress in 2019, following ‘Operation Kamala’. He led a group of 17 rebel MLAs from Congress and JDS to dethrone the JDS-Congress Alliance Government. Last week at a public meeting he was bold enough to say, ”We will get the numbers (to form a government). If not we will adjust it.” He succeeded in getting a number of central and state BJP leaders, including senior leader BS Yediyurappa and CM Basavaraj Bommai, to campaign for him, despite Gokak and Athani being strongholds of the BJP.
“Former BJP CM Jagadish Shettar joining the Congress after he was denied a ticket has changed the caste equations in the region. The ruling party, despite all the tall statements, is visibly shaken,” said Mahesh from Hubbali, a local voter.
The Congress has fielded a novice, Mahantesh Kadadi, a Panchamasali Lingayat. “People are fed up with corruption and mismanagement. I’m getting a huge response from the people wherever I go and I’m confident,” said Kadadi, who is a relative of BJP Rajya Sabha member Iranna Kadadi.
Sugar mills and influence of sugar barons
With over 70 mills in 16 districts, Karnataka is in the top three sugarcane- growing states in India and nearly 98 percent of the mills are in north Karnataka, with one-third of sugar coming from Belgaum’s 24 mills.
Some of the big ones are under the control of a few political heavyweights. Karnataka is third in cane production, next to Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and second in sugar recovery, after Maharashtra. While districts like Mandya and Mysore have high cane yield per hectare, sugar recovery is low.
In Belagavi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura, though cane yield is medium, sugar recovery is high. Thus the sugar barons make a beeline to grab the 18 seats.
“While the agro-climatic conditions are conducive, the political control of the sugar barons is vicious and farmers suffer because of the lackadaisical policies of the state government,” lamented Veerasangaiah, a farmer leader.
The Katti brothers, who belong to the Lingayat community, are politically powerful, and, in addition to sugarcane, what make them flourish are the mills. Umesh Katti was an eight-time winner from Belagavi district.
The sitting BJP MLA of Hukkeri, Katti passed away in September 2022, during the assembly session in Bengaluru, and, now, his son, Nikhil Katti, is contesting on a BJP ticket.
Late Umesh’s brother, Ramesh Katti, too, was an aspirant for Hukkeri, but the BJP, in order to bank on the sympathy vote, preferred Nikhil and allotted the neighbouring Chikkodi-Sadalga assembly constituency to Ramesh Katti, who also served as director of the Karnataka State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, and is actively involved in sugar politics.
“He is a friend of farmers and used to take special care of them. Katti had also a special love for north Karnataka,” Chief Minister Bommai said when Katti passed away last year. He was instrumental in developing the Hyderabad-Karnataka region but was also seen as a supporter of Marathi. Comprising six north-eastern districts of the state, the region was renamed as Kalyana Karnataka in 2019 by the BJP.
BJP leaders, home minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and UP CM Yogi Adityanath, have been doing a second round of campaigning in Kalyana Karnataka. Shah will take part in a road show in Ballari on May 6 and the next day he will address rallies in Bidar and Maski. On April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address public meetings in Humnabad. On May 2, he is scheduled to visit Vijayanagara in Ballari and Sindhanur in Raichur.
While Nadda is expected in Raichur on May 6, Adityanath will address rallies on May 3 in Gangavathi and Jewargi in Kalaburgi, followed by Shahpur in Yadgir and Bhalki taluk in Bidar.
Farmers protest
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers’ Association are upset with the mainstream political parties and have planned ‘Raithara Nadiga Jagruti Kadege’ (Farmers’ march towards awareness) in all villages.
Sporting a green shawl, Kurubur Shantkumar, President of the association, said: “We’ve put forward the demands and are ready to support any political party that agrees to fulfil them. But no political party has come forward, so we’re launching a march in all the villages.”
While it is anybody’s guess on the trend, caste politics and individual image will swing the vote this time around, feel political pundits.
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