BJP'sHindutva laboratory' crumbling in Karnataka!

? Abraham Lincoln

The above quote coming from Abraham Lincoln has been proved right thousands of times in history. Time and again we have seen people in power doing all that they can within and outside their limits to showcase what their real character is. The case of the BJP government in Karnataka in the last five years is a classic case in point.

Well, the BJP government in Karnataka redefined the concept of power taking its meaning to hysterical levels. It also redefined corruption to make it look like a natural benefit for a government voted to power. However, what was unique to this government in particular was that it also made communal politics look normal and legal. The recent poll verdict, though, has suggested quite vociferously that the electorate did not think that all that was quite normal.

Take, for example, the case of coastal Karnataka. Never in their wildest dreams would the BJP heavyweights have thought that they would be decimated by people so unceremoniously in this part of Karnataka. In the two districts of Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore) and Udupi, the BJP managed to win with great difficulty just two seats out of a total of 13, five less than the last time.

In fact, most defeats were quite embarrassing for the party as the margin was more than ten thousand votes on an average; a couple of them were even in the range of over thirty thousand votes. Incidentally, these districts were unofficially known as theHindutva laboratory' of the BJP in Karnataka. The party had successfully polarised the voters in these districts in the last two decades and had taken it for granted that it would not be let down by itstraditional' vote bank. But, for once, the BJP has been proved wrong. So what went wrong? Nearly everything!

The prestigious Mangalore south constituency has been wrested from the BJP by the Congress after a gap twenty years. Quite an achievement on the part of the Congress, considering the fact that its candidate J. R. Lobo was a political novice, fighting BJP's veteran YogishBhat. No one doubted the credentials of Mr Bhat. He had relatively a clean image. He was available to people. He was said to be good with all communities. And, more than anything else, he had won four times with big margins. So why did he lose? Circumstances, perhaps, defeated him.

Mangalore south constituency was the epicentre of most of the troubles that the BJP government had to face in the last five years. It was in this place that the infamous church attacks, the pub attack and the homestay attack took place, thus putting Mangalore on national headlines for all the wrong reasons. It was also here that moral policing by the SanghParivar took its roots and continued unabated.That these acts had a tacit sanction from the government of the day was quite obvious to the naked eye. And the sin of Mr Bhat was that he hardly acted. He did not even make some sensible statements to reassure the people of the constituency. Many people sarcastically said that this Bhat was de jure MLA of Mangalore; it was another Bhat (KalladkaPrbhakarBhat, South India convenor of the RSS) who was de facto MLA and that any statement or decision by the BJP in this part of Karnataka apparently had to have his approval. YogishBhat has paid the price - and quite handsomely - for being unable to act when it mattered the most.

The case of J. Krishna Palemar, the BJP candidate of Mangalore north, is even more interesting. Despite his reputation being dented by the famousporngate' scandal in the legislature, his victory was supposed to be a foregone conclusion. This is because his opponent MoideenBava of the Congress was considered not only a weak candidate but a bad choice as well. In fact, the other ticket hopefuls were so disappointed that there were rumours that they allegedly worked for his defeat. Most people around the place thought that Bava was an underdog in a constituency dominated by traditional vote bank of the BJP. Mr Palemar had won from here twice in a row. And yet he bit the dust against Bava. According to his own admission, bad publicity had done him in. What he meant bybad publicity'was the negative publicity he gained for himself after the famous porn-watching episode. However, there was greater bad publicity which perhaps he was not aware, or did not care.

In Udupi, another stronghold of the BJP, its candidate Sudhakar Shetty had to suffer for the sins of the BJP in general and for the many sins of his predecessor RaghupatiBhat in particular. Within a few months of becoming an MLA in 2008, Mr Bhat's wifePadmapriya committed suicide in New Delhi under mysterious circumstance. Mr Bhat may have wriggled out of the entire episode, but there are many who still think that his wife who was a gem of a person did not deserve to die like that. Then there was the outrageous rave party in February 2012 at the famousSt Mary's island near Malpe, Udupi under the aegis of the local BJP administration and with the total support of Mr Bhat. What was even more dangerous was that the then chief minister SadanandaGowda, even as he ordered an enquiry, appeared defensive about the whole issue stating that it was acultural event and that many local cultural groups also performed. And then, of course, Mr Bhat was allegedly involved in a sex scandal recently, the CDs of which were circulated just before the elections, which cost him his ticket at the last minute.

These are but a few examples to show how the exasperated voters in the coastal region, a hotbed of Hindutva politics, have voted to reject the communal and sectarian politics of the BJP. If one travelled around Mangalore even just a few months ago, one could sense visible fear among young people who were scared to venture out in pairs for fear of possible attacks from Hindutva vigilantes. In a famous declaration of sorts, Prasad Attavar, the convenor of Sri Ram Sene which took responsibility for the pub attack in 2009, said that he was happy with the attacks as his association got wide publicity. He was not even remorse of girls being beaten up as he felt that it was nobig deal', because by this other girls wouldlearn a lesson'. He was right! Girls, and women in general, learnt a great lesson. For, they outnumbered men who came out to vote this time in the entire district to defeat the BJP.

The BJP on its part has already begun to introspect. Hope someone would tell them to face the truth: One, you cannot take lightly the power entrusted upon you by people to make use of it (or misuse rather) the way you want. Second, divisive politics has no great future in this country. It will be exposed sooner than later. The defeat of the BJP in Karnataka, and more especially in the coastal belt this time, though, must send clear signals that it cannot take everyone for a ride with its Hindutva agenda and moral policing when people have figured out the hypocrisy where many of its own leaders have failed to toe themoral line' they had set for others.