4 min readBengaluruMay 14, 2023 07:50 PM IST
First published on: May 13, 2023 at 08:43 PM IST
The high-profile Hindutva issues raised by the ruling BJP during its tenure in Karnataka, including the Congress’s promise of action against the Bajrang Dal, failed to resonate with voters in Karnataka. The only exception was the coastal region, where the party anyway remains a dominant force.
During the campaign, the BJP initially treaded carefully over issues such as ban on hijab and halal meat that were raised during its government. However, later, as things appeared to be going tough for the party, it latched on to the Congress manifesto promise to crack down on organisations that disrupt communal harmony, putting the radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India and Bajrang Dal in the same bracket.
The BJP’s counter to this was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who linked the Congress’s promise to it seeking to “imprison Hanuman”. Thereafter, the party further raised the pitch, asking voters to chant “Jai Bajrang Bali” when they went to vote.
But, at the end of the day, Udupi, where the hijab issue came to the fore early 2022, was the only district in the state where the BJP won all the five seats.
Cow vigilante-turned-politician Yashpal Suvarna, who had spearheaded the campaign for banning hijab on the premises of pre-university colleges, secured a comfortable win by around 32,000 votes against Congress candidate Prasadraj Kanchan.
Suvarna was among the fresh faces fielded by the BJP in the election. He replaced sitting MLA K Raghupathi Bhat, who had reluctantly agreed to vacate the seat and back Suvarna.
In Dakshina Kannada district, the BJP won six of the eight seats – but this was one less than it had won in 2018. The BJP’s defeat in Puttur, where Congress candidate Ashok Rai won, was by virtue of a rebel candidate and hardcore Hindutva proponent, Arun Kumar Puthila, who ate into BJP votes and came in a close second. At Puttur, owing to the rebellion, the BJP had roped in UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to campaign in the run-up to the polls.
The Mangalore constituency, which was the only segment in Dakshina Kannada won by the Congress in 2018, was retained by its candidate U T Khader. The former minister recorded his fifth consecutive win, this time by a margin of 22,977 votes.
Kodagu district, which has a Hindutva base, was expected to see the Bajrang Dal issue gain some traction. However, surprisingly for the BJP, it lost both the seats in the district, considered its strongholds. Congress candidates A S Ponnanna and Mantar Gowda defeated BJP sitting MLAs KG Bopaiah and Appacchu Ranjan in a major upset.
Under the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of 2013-2018, Kodagu had seen violent agitations over plans to celebrate Tipu Jayanti.
Ahead of the elections, the Hindutva camp had put its weight behind Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, two Vokkaliga chieftains who, according to BJP leaders, killed Tipu – a claim disputed by historians. The BJP perhaps hoped this narrative would work in the Old Mysore region, especially Mandya district.
However, this narrative hit a wall when the Adichunchanagiri Mutt, a prominent mutt of the Lingayat community, shot this down.
In the results Saturday, the BJP, which held one Assembly seat in Mandya (its sitting MLA was minister K C Narayan Gowda), lost even that. The Congress, in turn, made major inroads in the Vokkaliga heartland.
BJP general secretary C T Ravi, a poster child of aggressive Hindutva ideology, faced an upset in Chikmagalur constituency – considered a bastion of the Vokkaliga leader – losing to Congress candidate H D Thimmaiah. The BJP had won the seat four times since 2004.
Another controversial Hindutva ideologue, Basangouda Patil Yatnal, though, won from Vijayapur constituency.
During the campaign, the BJP initially treaded carefully over issues such as ban on hijab and halal meat that were raised during its government. (File) 
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