Opinion Express View on BJP’s Karnataka manifesto: High on Hindutva

The BJP manifesto for Karnataka polls released Monday is a mixture of Hindutva demands and welfare promises. However, it hardly echoes the aspirational pitch Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes at his election rallies in the state though he has described the manifesto as “development-centric”. Nor does it meet the demands of a state that has been falling behind even among its southern neighbours in human development indices, including for health, education, nutrition etc. Releasing the manifesto, party president J P Nadda said: “Our manifesto is a vision document for a developed Karnataka. It encompasses a forward looking approach and promises to fulfil the aspirations of everyone in Karnataka.” It’s hard to see how. There are the stock promises straight from the polarisation playbook, coming in the wake of the debates on hijab, Muslim reservation etc. As for welfare and development initiatives, they seem more like a response to the criticism that the Basavaraj Bommai government achieved little in office.

On top of the list of promises is a Uniform Civil Code and a National Register of Citizens (NRC). Why would Karnataka, a southern state with no international border, be keen on an NRC considering that the exercise is meant to identify illegal migrants? The party has also promised to set up a panel “to grant complete autonomy of temple administration to devotees”, and regulate “local businesses around temples to create a sustainable temple economy”. The temple economy reference comes in the backdrop of Hindutva groups demanding that the government must “ban” Muslims from running shops on temple premises, or setting up shops during temple fairs. These promises, like the campaign pitch around laws concerning cattle slaughter ban and conversion and Muslim quotas, may resonate among the BJP’s core base. However, these are unlikely to stave off anti-incumbency in the more middle-of-the-road voter struggling with a sluggish economy, lack of decent jobs, and crumbling public infrastructure. The welfare assurances like free LPG cylinders and milk are more of an attempt to account for previous postures. Take the promise of half litre of Nandini milk daily to BPL families under Poshan Yojana. This has the trappings of a defensive gesture since the Opposition had charged — with more rhetoric than fact — that the BJP government planned to merge the state-run Karnataka Milk Federation’s Nandini dairy brand with Gujarat’s Amul. Similarly, the promise of Atal Aahara Kendras to provide “affordable, quality and hygienic food” in every municipal ward is just reiteration of a 2018 item — Annapoorna canteen — that did not take off. The Indira Canteens, set up in 2017 across Bengaluru when Siddaramaiah was the chief minister, are in a poor shape.

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Manifestos are usually academic exercises and with just nine days left for polling, this one is hardly the document that can fire the imagination of a state that, by most accounts, is looking for change. That said, the BJP is likely to bank on its formidable organisational clout and resources and, of course, its central leadership’s energy and the PM’s personal push to stave off anti-incumbency. A report card of its five years in office will be what matters — this manifesto is postscript, at best.