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Journalism of Courage
When the BJP began building a case for an anti-conversion law in Karnataka while it was in power between 2019-2023, one of the central regions in its campaign was Chitradurga, one of the state’s poorest districts where nearly 30 per cent of people are from Dalit and tribal communities employed in farm and migrant labour.
In September 2021, Gulihatti Shekhar, the then BJP MLA from Hosadurga, one of the six Assembly segments in the Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency, claimed in the Karnataka legislature that large-scale conversions to Christianity were taking place in Chitradurga.
“There is large-scale conversion happening in the state. In Chitradurga, in my constituency, nearly 15,000 to 20,000 people have converted. Among those who have converted is my mother. She has converted to Christianity,” Shekhar told the legislature.
Two months later, on December 23, 2021, the Karnataka anti-conversion law titled the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 was passed in the Legislative Assembly and later in the Legislative Council in 2022. In 2023, the Congress made a poll promise to repeal the law but is now waiting for the conclusion of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to act.
Since the BJP lost the 2023 polls in Karnataka, things have changed in Hosadurga and Chitradurga.
Shekhar quit the BJP after he was denied a party ticket and managed to win only six per cent of the votes in Hosadurga when he contested as an Independent in 2023 (compared to 56 per cent in 2018).
The Congress won five of the six Chitradurga Assembly segments while the BJP got one seat in the 2023 elections as compared to 2018 when the BJP won five and the Congress one.
“Things have changed in Hosadurga after the Congress won the elections. There is no threat of harassment and trouble. It is more peaceful now,” says Ramesh V, a pastor from a Scheduled Caste community against whom the Hosadurga police registered a case in 2021 under Indian Penal Code sections for outraging religious feelings (295 A), wrongful restraint (341), and criminal intimidation (506) on a complaint by a neighbour. “A chargesheet has been filed and we are awaiting trial. We tried to convince the police that the allegations were false. They did not listen to us in the previous administration,” Ramesh said.
The pastor who lives in an Ashraya colony built for below poverty line (BPL) families on the outskirts of Hosadurga town is of the view that the Lok Sabha elections in Chitradurga will be favourable for the Congress.
“The Congress guarantees are working in Chitradurga. The women in our homes are getting Rs 2,000 per month under one of the guarantee schemes. This is a big contribution to households. We do not have to think twice when new gas cylinders have to be bought,” Ramesh said. “People are also fed up with the constant animosity being created between communities who are otherwise living peacefully with each other,” he added.
The Chitradurga Lok Sabha seat is one of the 14 constituencies going to polls in the first phase of elections in Karnataka on April 26. The Congress has fielded its former three-time MP B N Chandrappa while the BJP has transferred its former deputy chief minister Govind Karjol from the Bagalkot region to Chitradurga to counter the Congress.
Both Chandrappa and Karjol belong to the Madiga group of most backward Dalits and are among only four Madigas fielded from the Congress (two) and BJP (two) for the polls. Karjol had replaced Union minister A Narayanaswamy who won the 2019 elections.
The Chitradurga Lok Sabha seat is one of the constituencies where the Congress poll guarantees could prove to be a decisive factor on account of the region being largely populated by poor farm workers and labourers who have been seeing diminishing work opportunities on account of a drought in the state, says social worker Ramesh Challakere.
“We are grateful to anyone who does something to make our lives easier. I do not have a house. I work in houses and sell greens sometimes to pay rent. My son works in Bengaluru. The money from the government is a benefit,” says Sarojamma, 52, in Chitradurga town.
“We are getting the guarantees from the state and we have received cards containing the new guarantees promised by the Congress if it comes to power. All the women in my village will vote for the hand,” says Shakunthamma, a resident of the Kodihalli village in Chitradurga.
According to Kiran Kumar, an aide of H Anjaneya, a former Congress minister from the Holalkere region of Chitradurga district, efforts have been made to distribute the new Congress guarantee cards in all villages. “The Congress has earned the support of the poor but we do not know if the BJP will outspend in the final run and win over local leaders,” he said.
The BJP has a strong base in the Holalkere and Hosadurga seats where there is a nearly 30 per cent Lingayat community population that is firmly allied with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Lingayats traditionally support the BJP but are outnumbered by others. The guarantee scheme working in the region would hurt the BJP,” social worker Ramesh said.
“As a poor man, I am in favour of the Congress, my community and most of the poor favour the Congress due to the guarantees. Those who have means support the BJP. The BJP is focused on creating wealth for others but not the poor,” says Kumar Lambani, a Scheduled Tribe coconut vendor on the Hosadurga state highway.
The BJP is also facing internal dissent over the choice of candidate for Chitradurga with a section of party workers carrying out a “Go Back Karjol” campaign after he was picked as the BJP candidate. The BJP MLA from Holalkere M Chandrappa had lobbied for the Lok Sabha ticket to be given to his son but the demand was rejected by the BJP leadership.
In the end, former BJP chief minister and national executive member B S Yediyurappa, who is a close associate of Karjol, convinced Chandrappa to drop his rebellion and support the party candidate. Yediyurappa, a major Lingayat community leader, has been campaigning for the BJP candidate in the constituency.
“The Congress stopped my initiative to provide farmers an additional Rs 4,000 under the Kisan Samman programme. This initiative was stopped to divert funds for Congress’s free (guarantee) schemes. This is a big letdown…people have lost their trust in the Congress,” Yediyurappa said at a poll rally in Chitradurga.
“The Congress is a sinking ship. Why does the Congress not declare its PM candidate?” Yediyurappa said while stating that PM Narendra Modi enjoys large support in the country.
