The Sunday Profile: Ministering Bommai

The biggest criticism, however, is that Bommai and his leadership have given a free pass to the Hindutva right-wing to execute its agenda — from a string of comments that have kept the hijab row simmering, to the issue of banning Muslims from temple festivals to the halal meat controversy.

While Bommai, eager to earn his stripes in the BJP given that he was in the JD(S) as late as 2008, was expected to be soft on Hindutva radicals, no one expected the CM — given his socialist background — to roll over and play dead.

Bommai’s roots in the socialist and secular politics of the Janata Dal can be traced to his lineage — his father and former CM S R Bommai was an ardent follower of the radical humanist movement of Leftist leader M N Roy.

Though Bommai made his foray into politics in 1996-97, when he was appointed political secretary to then CM J H Patel of the Janata Dal, it wasn’t until 2008, after his father’s death in 2007, that he contested elections. This was because the senior Bommai didn’t want to use his credentials to promote his son.

It’s a discipline that has continued in his family, with neither of his two children — son Bharath, an industrialist and businessman, and daughter Aditi, an architecture student — displaying any political inclinations. His wife Chenamma is a homemaker.

“Basavaraj wanted to serve people but had to wait for his time,” says J H Patel’s son Mahima Patel, the JD(U) Karnataka president.

Following his father’s death in October 2007, with Bommai’s political career at the crossroads, he was invited to join the BJP by the party’s biggest face then and Lingayat leader B S Yediyurappa. Bommai adopted Shiggaon, a constituency bordering the Dharwad region, which did not have a BJP leader, and won the seat in 2008, and in 2013 and 2018 as well.

One of the hallmarks of Bommai’s time in the BJP, including two tenures as minister, was his ability to stay away from controversies while also emerging as a leader with knack for governance. He was the water resources minister between 2008-2013 and was most recently (2019-2021) minister for home, law and parliamentary affairs for Yediyurappa. “He is hardworking and has the passion to become a big political leader,” says Bommai’s former JD(U) colleague M P Nadagouda.

Despite tracing his roots to Hubli — where he grew up before graduating with an engineering degree from B V Bhoomaraddi college — and his father representing the region for many years in the Assembly, Bommai has stayed away from the politics of the region since it is controlled by Union minister Pralhad Joshi and former CM Jagadish Shettar, with the RSS also being an important force.

A former Hubli journalist describes Bommai as a “shrewd, tactful politician” who is aware of his limitations within the BJP.

As home minister, Bommai toed the Centre’s line on issues like the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “He is a good listener on matters that are of interest to the BJP. If high command wants something, he is unlikely to say no,” says Bommai’s friend and ex-Congress MP V S Ugrappa.

When Bommai became the fourth BJP chief minister of Karnataka in July 2021, he was expected to have a tough time balancing the diverse political interests at play in the state. There were the pulls and pressures of being loyal to both his benefactor Yediyurappa — who had by then fallen out of favour in the BJP — and the dominant BJP central leadership. There was also going to be that inherent tussle between his socialist moorings and the right-wing ideology of the BJP and RSS.

Despite the tough outlook for his tenure, Bommai was expected to do well as CM. His sharp and resilient political mind was expected to carry the day for him until the 2023 polls.

However, that is coming under test as, besides his inability or reluctance to stop the divisive agenda of the Hindutva fringe, he is also being questioned in matters of governance.

“As home minister of Karnataka, Bommai had done well during the pandemic years. The positivity that reflected in his initial months as CM seems to have disappeared,” a government official said.

A senior BJP legislator spoke of a governance paralysis. “Dozens of files pertaining to projects in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike have not been cleared by the CMO. There has been no decision because of inter-ministerial disputes, vested interests.”

Bommai’s indecision is also being blamed on the fact that he leans on the national leadership before taking a call on crucial issues.

A senior official at a key educational institution in the state recently narrated their experience in getting the government to allot additional land for an expansion project. “We have been running behind them for months. An official told us that a decision will be taken if there is any kind of recommendation from top officials in Delhi,” the official says.

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According to sources, Bommai has in recent weeks stopped acceding to requests from Yediyurappa as well. “Even when he meets the former CM, he does not commit to anything,” says the aide of a senior minister.

Bommai has also been making frequent trips to New Delhi for clearances. His visit to Delhi on April 6 and 7 for talks on Cabinet changes did not get a favourable response from the BJP leadership. Besides, Bommai was not able to meet Shah, ostensibly because the latter was caught up with Parliament.

A few hours after Bommai left Delhi, BJP leader Shettar — a Lingayat leader like Bommai and considered to be a possible challenger to the CM — posted a picture on social media of his meeting with Shah.

As CM, a leader points out, Bommai spends a lot of his time on private events. He attended many events around the wedding of his friend and Union minister Pralhad Joshi’s daughter in September 2021 in Karnataka and New Delhi. His critics also point to his habit of spending evenings with a few Cabinet colleagues at a five-star hotel in Bengaluru. Bommai’s inner circle mostly has new entrants to the BJP like himself — K Sudhakar, Byrathi Basavaraj and S T Somashekhar, among others.

Many point to the Bitcoin controversy of October 2021 as the period when his confidence began wavering. “He became somewhat passive then,” a government official says.

The Bitcoin scam pertains to the arrest of an alleged international hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki, in November 2020 by the Bengaluru Police. The Opposition has alleged that many police and government officials received kickbacks in the form of Bitcoins from the hacker gang after the arrest. Bommai was home minister when the arrest occurred.

In November 2021, Bommai met the Prime Minister. Though Bommai said the PM made light of the Bitcoin issue, his visit came amid speculation that the BJP was considering a change of guard in Karnataka following the Opposition’s demands for an investigation.

In December 2021, on a visit to his constituency, Bommai turned tearful as he lamented the temporary nature of all positions of power — then interpreted as a sign that he may have to make way for a new CM. “…This life is not permanent, we do not know how long we will live. In such a situation all posts of power are also not permanent,” Bommai said.

Yet, what has defined Bommai’s eight months as CM is his failure to speak out against right-wing Hindutva groups in the state.

Over the last few months, police officers, including K Ramarajan, a young IPS officer who dared to stand up to right-wing groups, have found themselves transferred. BJP leaders too have been at the receiving end of right-wing groups. On April 6, Sanjeev Matandoor, party MLA from Puttur region, was heckled by Bajrang Dal activists for failing to obtain release of men held for moral policing in Uppinangady.

Recently, speaking in the wake of the halal meat controversy, Bommai said, “Where it is required, we will respond. We won’t (respond) when it is not required.”

It seemed like a rare moment of assertion. Yet, as he has so often done in recent months, Bommai had only dodged the issue — for now.