Will Kempegowda statue do the trick? BJP’s fresh bid for Vokkaliga vote

The BJP’s attempt at turning the inauguration into a political ceremony looks to be succeeding, with the JD(S) already calling out the attempt at politicisation. Days before PM Modi inaugurates the statue, a ‘holy mud’ campaign was taken out by the BJP, to collect soil from over 22,000 locations across the state. The soil thus collected was symbolically mixed with the soil under one of the four towers of the pedestal on which the statue stands.

This event was spearheaded by Dr C.N. Ashwathnarayan, the state Minister for Higher Education, as well as of Information Technology and Biotechnology. A Vokkaliga, he is among the several BJP leaders trying hard to emerge as the undisputed leader of the community in the Old Mysuru region, and expects his pipe-dream to be realised with this venture.

Over the years, BJP has not fared well in south Karnataka. Its attempts to make inroads here is no secret, as the BJP has doubled down to gain a foothold here, with encouraging results in the 2018 Assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. For the party, which already dominates the coastal districts and the Lingayat-majority belts of north Karnataka, any gains in the Vokkaliga heartland will be a game-changer, even as it stares at an uncertain future in the state after the former CM B.S. Yediyurappa era.

None of the Vokkaliga leaders in the BJP have succeeded in projecting themselves as the prominent leader within the community. The likes of Revenue Minister R. Ashok — a Yediyurappa protégé, BJP general secretary C.T. Ravi, Medical Education minister K. Sudhakar — who jumped ship to the BJP in 2019, and Ashwathnarayan, have not been able to establish themselves as ‘community leaders’, which is in contrast with opposition leaders like the JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and to some extent KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.

While Ashok is accused of having an ‘understanding’ with the Deve Gowda family, Ashwathnarayan’s scuffle with the DK brothers (Shivakumar and Bangalore Rural MP D.K. Suresh) has not done him any favours. Ravi and Sudhakar are trying hard to grow beyond the confines of their own constituencies, with the former maintaining that Deve Gowda remains the top leader of the community.

Apart from attempts at appropriating the Vokkaliga icon Kempegowda ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP has been for years trying to cozy up to the Adichunchanagiri mutt — which is one of the most prominent mutts of the community, if not its most significant one. Repeated references that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Swami Nirmalanandanatha are both members of the same sect — Naath Panth, a Shaivaite group — are also analysed along political lines. There were even speculations that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had urged Nirmalanandanatha to contest the polls last year, which did not materialise.

JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy has lashed out at the BJP for using Kempegowda for political reasons. “They believe that installing a statue will help them gain votes of the Vokkaligas. They are under an illusion,” the former CM said, adding that people will show them the reality soon.