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Journalism of Courage
As a former prime minister, Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda or H D Deve Gowda is still a much-loved figure in this Vokkaliga turf of southern Karnataka. Enough to steer eight members of his family into public life, in different capacities. But now, as the veteran Janata Dal (Secular) leader – one month short of turning 90 – moves into his twilight years, it is trailed by the shadow of this large dynasty.
More recently, this spilled over into an unseemly tussle over the Hassan Assembly seat – one of eight under the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which has been won six times by Gowda, and is now held by his grandson Prajwal Revanna. Voters across the constituency are well aware of the fight between Gowda’s son H D Kumaraswamy and his sister-in-law Bhavani Revanna (the wife of Revanna), who had expressed her wish to contest from the seat.
The weariness with the Gowda family drama coincides with efforts by the Congress and BJP to wean away the substantial Vokkaliga and Muslim vote, which has formed the JD(S)’s bedrock in Hassan.
The first jolt had come in 2018, when the BJP wrested the Hassan Assembly seat.
This round between Kumaraswamy and Revanna was won by the former, who accused some “Shakunis” of trying to “brainwash” his brother and wife. The Gowdas even presented a united front when the party named a local JD(S) worker and son of four-time MLA H S Prakash, H P Swaroop, as its candidate from Hassan seat.
However, few expect the truce to last.
Kumaraswamy’s ostensible reason that he wanted to avoid attacks on the JD(S) of promoting the family, also cuts little ice given the number of family members already in politics. From his side of the family, they include Kumaraswamy, the MLA from Channapatna who is contesting again, his wife Anitha, the MLA from Ramanagara segment, and their son Nikhil, the JD(S) youth wing president who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Mandya. Nikhil is now contesting the May 10 election from his mother’s constituency, Ramanagara.
From Revanna’s side, while he is the MLA from Holenrasipura and is contesting from there again, Bhavani who hasn’t got an Assembly ticket is a member of Hassan Zilla Panchayat. One of their sons, Prajwal, is the Hassan Lok Sabha MP, while another, Suraj, is an MLC.
Deve Gowda, meanwhile, is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Denying any bitterness over Hassan, Prajwal insisted they had all agreed to work unitedly. “At the end of the day, we are all under one roof, of the JD(S), and the fight over tickets will end once these are declared. We will all work for the victory of the official candidate.”
At the same time, Prajwal hinted that all was not over. “There are certain assurances which we hope will be fulfilled in a month or two. We had left the matter to the high command, in our case honorable Deve Gowda, and he convinced us,” Prajwal told The Indian Express.
It is this that troubles Mubashir Ahmad, a local businessman who says he used to be a loyal JD(S) worker, but has got little in return – that the more things change, the more they remain the same. “Enough is enough,” Ahmad says, as he sips tea at a small shop in the heart of the town. “We are tired of the dictatorship and the family politics. We want change.”
His disillusionment reflects not just the JD(S)’s slide in the 51 seats of the Old Mysuru region, including Hassan and excluding Bengaluru city, where the party has traditionally been strong, but the limitations of sharing the spoils when there are so many vying at the top.
Of the 51 seats, spread over Ramanagar, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural districts – with the Vokkaligas the dominant group, and a large number of Muslims – the JD(S) had won 20 in 2018, followed closely by the Congress at 18 and the BJP 12.
A party worker says the family squabble over Hassan may again cost the JD(S) the seat. Last time, the loss of JD(S) candidate Prakash from Hassan – the father of the party’s current candidate from the seat – was attributed to Gowda family politics.
Sanaulla, a local scrap dealer, says the family has come to take voters for granted. “They do not work through the five years. They share power and its advantages, and only come to us for votes. The JD(S) is a party just for the family,” he says, adding that while “90% of the Muslims in Hassan district earlier voted for the JD(S)”, they would not do so this time.
Communities besides Vokkaligas and Muslims see no point in voting for the JD(S). “Deve Gowda became the PM, but the party has worked only for these two groups. People like us are not able to make ends meet. We are reeling under high prices,” says D L Devraj, an auto-rickshaw driver, a Scheduled Caste, who claims he had to run pillar to post for a caste certificate to get a borewell connection.
Throughout Hassan, one name keeps coming up as the most acceptable face, across communities: former Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah. With Siddaramaiah openly advocating Muslim causes at a time when other politicians shy away from it, Ahmad claims “all communities will move towards supporting Siddaramaiah”.
Incidentally, Siddaramaiah’s main Congress rival, D K Shivakumar, is a prominent Vokkaliga leader.
There are also signs of support for the BJP. Sharada, a retired schoolteacher who lives in the centre of Hassan, says her family turned BJP supporters as the party is “led by (PM Narendra) Modi, who does not discriminate on caste lines”.
The BJP has been working on wooing the Vokkaligas too, as it seeks to reduce its dependence on Lingayats in the state. Recently, PM Modi addressed a rally in Mandya and inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway and other projects. The BJP always underlines Modi’s “regard and respect” for Deve Gowda, which the latter too acknowledges.
In 2018, BJP candidate and former ABVP leader Preetham J Gowda had defeated Prakash, a JD(S) veteran, in his debut election, by over 13,000 votes in Hassan. Preetham, considered close to the BJP’s tallest Lingayat leader, B S Yediyurappa, had later also played a significant role in the party winning the December 2019 by-election in KR Pete, a Vokkaliga bastion.
Preetham says his prime motivation for contesting in Hassan was to give the Gowda family a serious opposition, and that he is banking on “his vision and dedication for the people” to win again.
BJP sources say they are confident of winning at least three of the eight Assembly segments in the Hassan Lok Sabha seat.
Prajwal Revanna denies grave predictions of a slide in the JD(S) fortunes, as party leaders point out that they won 37 seats even last time. He also refutes claims by rivals that the JD(S) would eventually go with the BJP, and says his party is fighting independent of both the BJP and the Congress, and could shift from “passenger seat to driver’s seat” post May 13.
On internal differences, Prajwal says other parties are in a worse situation. “The Congress is fighting over who would be CM. The BJP has turned away an entire old generation, and is seeing a resignation spree,” he says.
