Opinion Low, lower

In 2018, Karnataka goes to polls and a line can be drawn from the nasty spectre-mongering of the Gujarat campaign to the one already unfolding in the southern state.

In Karnataka, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anant Kumar Hegde has heaped scorn on secularists as “people without parentage” and promised — or threatened — that the BJP would “change the Constitution” in the “near future”. At the very least, the minister’s comments speak of a cavalier disregard for the Constitution that he has sworn to preserve, protect and uphold. Of course, secularism can be debated and the Constitution may be changed. But that would call for deliberation and due process, not ministerial bravado. Hegde’s loose talk is most remarkable, however, because it is a portent. In 2018, Karnataka goes to polls and a line can be drawn from the nasty spectre-mongering of the Gujarat campaign to the one already unfolding in the southern state. In other words, there is a message from Battlefield Karnataka as this year winds to a close: In many ways that matter, it is not going to be a new year, after all.

Minister Hegde’s remarks are chilling, then, because they are expected and part of a spreading pattern. In Karnataka, the ground is fertile for it, incidents of communal violence have been on the rise in sensitive districts like Uttara Kannada. Violence targeting the state’s minority community broke out after the yet-unexplained death of 18-year-old Paresh Mesta earlier this month. It was in this backdrop, too, that BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje sought to further stoke passions by tweeting allegations about “jihadi” involvement in the alleged attempt to rape and murder a 14-year-old Dalit girl in the same region. Looking back, the build-up of religious polarisation had begun even earlier, with the contrived controversy over the birth anniversary celebrations by the Congress government of the 18th century ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. The BJP vs Congress face-off over whether he was a temple-burning Muslim bigot or a great ruler who fought the British draws on propaganda and prejudice, politics and WhatsApp-forwards, not any knowledge of history.

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This coarsening political debate thrives on drawing faultlines and borders within. It demonises the minority and seeks to inflate majoritarian fears. It privileges spectres over issues on which governments must be held accountable by the people. In this debate, the only lines that have blurred and smudged are those between the political fringe and mainstream. If Gujarat saw the language of politics plunge low, Minister Hegde has just served a warning that Karnataka may see it sink further.