‘Nitish was in touch with me… We were planning a Janata Federal Front. I even said I would endorse him as PM’: Deve Gowda

In 1996, when I introduced the Bill, I was running a 13-party coalition, I did not have much support. But I brought it in the Lok Sabha fighting my own colleagues.

I also impressed upon PM Modi to introduce the Bill a few times. In April 2023, when the inauguration of the new Parliament building was announced, just before the Karnataka elections, I wrote a long letter to him… I am grateful that Modi took it up. I congratulate him.

Did the idea of a women’s reservation Bill come to you from what you had observed after such a quota was introduced in local bodies?

Deve Gowda: I do not want to say retrospectively now that I had great vision. It was plain common sense. You could not ignore half your population… It was not urban women who were in my mind when I thought of this legislation. I knew this would do wonderful things in rural areas… Women education and health were my priority areas since the early 1970s when I was the Opposition leader in the Devaraj Urs government. I was also a father of two girls, to whose education I paid a lot of attention. In 1996 this Bill also suited the progressive agenda of the United Front government.

The JD(S) decision to align with the BJP is being seen as a major departure for you, particularly given your focus on a secular image post-Babri Masjid demolition.

Deve Gowda: I have reiterated this many times – ‘Nothing changes’. My secular values and my secular principles remain the same. My commitment to all sections of the society, including the minorities, is intact. The Congress has a way of making everybody look bad except themselves. I have been long enough in public life to tell you what their true colour is. The kind of compromises they have made to remain in power… Don’t I know how many Congress leaders are directly and indirectly in touch with the present government?

You have said that Nitish Kumar wanted the JD(S) to be a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, but that local Congress leaders in Karnataka opposed it. Did the exclusion of the JD(S) from INDIA play a part in the decision to ally with the BJP?

Deve Gowda: Yes, that is correct. Nitish was in touch with me from October-November 2022. We were planning some kind of a Janata Federal Front. I had even said I would endorse Nitish Kumar as PM candidate. Nitish wanted a merger with my party… I only said I cannot think of a merger given the Karnataka elections in April-May 202… but that we can all cooperate.

After the Karnataka Assembly polls, due to pressure from certain Congress leaders, my party was unilaterally dropped from the alliance they were building. I was not invited to the Patna meeting. Do you think I should suffer this humiliation at my age? Nitish is still my good friend… The Congress has destroyed secular coalitions in this country, right from the beginning, to serve their own ends. See how they destabilised secular coalitions, including my government… They pretend to be progressive. They are not.

Can you also tell me what the record of the Congress party is with regard to minorities? Forget the past, even as recently as the halal and hijab controversy in Karnataka, who stood with the minorities? Did the great Congress leaders utter a word? What is happening in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh? Who said in Madhya Pradesh we are already a Hindu rashtra? I don’t want to go back to Babri Masjid and who did what… I was the only leader who said Rahul Gandhi’s yatra was a good thing. Did he care to respond? He is a very big leader, I am a small person…

The minorities will soon realise the true value of my party. I don’t want anybody’s certificate…

Do you see the BJP alliance as key to long-term survival of the JD(S) after the defeat in the 2023 Karnataka elections?

Deve Gowda: Nobody is talking of survival here. We are an independent political party and this is a strategic electoral alliance… Those who are ruling in Karnataka were groomed by me. Their arrogance may not allow them to acknowledge this, but it is the truth. These people who crossed over from my party for the sake of power have finished the original Congress leaders. Has Mallikarjun Kharge not suffered because of Siddaramaiah? What is happening to B K Hariprasad (an OBC leader seen as sidelined in the Karnataka government)?

I have always fought and survived. I will continue to do so.

Is your personal friendship with PM Modi the foundation of the alliance with the BJP?

Deve Gowda: Yes I share a cordial relationship with PM Modi. He came from a similar background as me and made it big on his own. He has given me a lot of respect… When people had forgotten about me, he spoke about me warmly…

In terms of political synergy, how will the JD(S)-BJP alliance work? Is it Modi magic plus Deve Gowda legacy? Will it be restricted to your stronghold South Karnataka? Will the main issue be the targeting of the Congress?

Deve Gowda: All this is too early to talk about. I will speak at an appropriate time.

You have suggested that parties like the NCP and JD(U), which are right now in INDIA, could be in the NDA fold after the Lok Sabha polls. How strong is their commitment to ‘secular democracy’, as they call it?

Deve Gowda: The INDIA alliance is unstable. The electoral interests and agendas of the parties do not match… If this alliance has to do well, it will be at the cost of the Congress. Will the Congress allow it? The Congress has now suddenly woken up to the OBC reservation agenda. Are they trying to do this out of commitment or to finish Mandal parties in INDIA? My friends there should answer.

Are there any preconditions in the alliance with the BJP, as to which seats the JD(S) will get, whether the partners will have a say in choice of candidates, whether Deve Gowda must contest?

Deve Gowda: I can only say that I do not know of any preconditions.