Belagavi/Dharwad: In Belagavi’s Kshatriya Savaji Hotel in Khasbag, Vishnu Subhash Latkan slows down from juggling between serving lunch and assisting his teenage daughter at the cash counter while they discuss the upcoming Karnataka assembly election.
“We have to see which way the Marathas, Muslims and Lingayats vote. Last time it was the BJP, but this time there is a tough fight. The price rise has hit us all hard,” Latkan said while writing up a bill for lunch.
“The BJP may have won many seats last time, but this time around there is a three-way fight,” he added, referring to the Congress and the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a party batting for the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra, raking up issues like price rise and corruption to seek votes ahead of the elections, which are just three days away.
Just a few kilometres across the National Highway-4, noted playwright D.S. Chougale sits comfortably at his home, filled with pictures of him receiving awards from several senior political leaders.
“It’s like an IPL (Indian Premier League) match that goes on till the last ball. It’s exciting but the winner will be decided on the last ball,” Chougale said about the elections.
He has had at least three visits from BJP workers seeking his support, but not one by anyone from the Congress, which he says will make the difference on polling day. Although Chougale does not assert his caste identity, he reveals that he is from the Panchamasali sub-sect of Lingayats.
Belagavi is the divisional headquarters of the Kittur-Karnataka (erstwhile Mumbai-Karnataka) region, where the Lingayats are possibly the biggest influencers.
Although the community is seen to back the BJP, this time the Lingayats say they have much to deliberate upon before casting their vote on 10 May.
This includes what many describe as short shrift given to Lingayat strongman B.S. Yediyurappa, who was replaced as CM in 2021. There is also some resentment over the denial of tickets to two other senior leaders, former CM Jagadish Shettar and former deputy CM Laxman Savadi, both of whom have now joined the Congress.
‘A message for Lingayats’
The Lingayats are believed to constitute around 17 per cent of the state’s total population, and their support is key for any party.
“The BJP ideology opposes (Lingayatism founder) Basavanna’s philosophy,” said Chougale. “But when Rahul Gandhi came for Basava Jayanthi celebrations (on 23 April, 23 Kudala Sangama), it was a message to Lingayats.”
Sanganna Hirekoppa, a 45-year-old driver in Khade Bazaar, said he remembered Rahul Gandhi getting “deekshe” — or initiation into the religion — in August 2022.
A Belagavi-based educationist, requesting anonymity, said “(B.S.) Yediyurappa is the tallest Lingayat leader, but was asked to step down and then forced not to contest the elections”.
“Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi also left after being denied tickets. This may not have any bearing on the results, but the impact of their leaving is there,” the educationist added.
Development in much of these regions seems to be limited to building roads, erecting statues, and putting up colourful streetlights that are concentrated in the city centres. Most of the roads off the highways are in a pitiable state and spit stains look like graffiti on most walls.
In Athani, about 118km from Belagavi city, many voters told ThePrint that they will choose between persons and not the parties.
“Laxman Savadi has done a lot of development for these parts and it doesn’t matter which party he contests from,” said Anil Kumar Menasi, a 50-year-old medical shop owner. “He has a strong following.”
Itnal Math, a person who has closely been associated with a local Lingayat matha, points to the potential impact of a far deeper caste matrix.
“There is considerable anger among Lingayats against Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was instrumental in Savadi’s defeat in 2018 and arm-twisted the BJP not to give him a ticket from Athani this time,” he added.
One of the influential Jarkiholi brothers, Ramesh led the Congress-JD(S) defections to the BJP that eventually toppled the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led government. He was believed to be unhappy with what he saw as senior Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar’s “interference” in Belagavi’s internal politics.
Some local residents believe that, in the process of consolidating control over the district, Ramesh in particular has gone after anyone he sees as a threat to his dominance, and many of them happen to be Lingayats.
“Lingayat kattre Gol Gummata, bittre Bara Khamba (When Lingayat builds, it will be Gol Gumbas, if they leave, then nothing),” said Itnal Math. This figuratively translates to Lingayats can make or break a leader.
‘Democracy being murdered’
The temperature is north of 40 at Giriyal Village in Kittur, a stone’s throw away from the speeding vehicles on the NH-4 that connects Belagavi and Dharwad.
It’s hard to open one’s eyes as the dry heat and dust are blinding. Around 30 people sit under the shade of a large mango tree and several more arrive in batches, crammed in Force Cruisers, a long-chassis vehicle that seems to be the preferred choice for local travel.
Most of those who get off the vehicles rush to the three water dispensers placed outside a newly constructed home, which is now the residence of Vinay Kulkarni, the Congress candidate from Dharwad Rural.
People three times older than Kulkarni refer to him as “anna” (brother).
“Democracy is being murdered and we have to save it,” Kulkarni said to the people sitting under the mango tree as they erupt in cheers.
Kulkarni is the main accused in the murder of Yogeshgouda Goudar, a member of the district panchayat and BJP worker, on 15 June 2016. Kulkarni spent nine months in jail but received a hero’s welcome when he was released on bail in August 2021. However, he has been denied entrance into his home district according to bail conditions set by the Supreme Court.
Hero worship is common in politics but it is not so evident as in the case of the northern districts of Karnataka, where income inequalities are stark and landlords treat their districts as ‘fiefdoms’.
Kulkarni is also from the Panchamasali subsect of Lingayats, who hold sway in at least 100 assembly constituencies. The Congress has accommodated a higher number of Lingayats than before to get the community to back them, after losing them on account of what is perceived as former CM Veerendra Patil’s insult by former PM Rajiv Gandhi.
The Congress has fielded 91-year-old Shamanur Shivashankarappa from Davangere by projecting to have given “more respect” to Lingayats than the BJP.
If the word on the street is anything to go by, then several Lingayat seers have asked that the community assert itself and vote against the BJP in Savadatti, Athani, Gokak and Ramdurg to “protect their interests and dominance”.
The BJP relies heavily on the Lingayats and the six districts of this region have 50 seats, of which the party won 30 in the 2018 assembly elections. This time, that number seems much harder to achieve, especially since non-Lingayats are seen to dominate affairs in these parts, according to some residents.
“He (Pralhad Joshi) has an iron grip over Hubballi-Dharwad,” Yousuf Dargadh, a former zilla panchayat member from Dharwad said of Joshi, cupping his left fist with his right hand to emphasise his point.
Among local Lingayats, some things are proving hard to forget. Shettar naming BJP general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh as the reason for him being sidelined, and H.D. Kumaraswamy’s statement that the BJP wanted to make Joshi the CM.
“For us, it doesn’t matter who comes to power as long as they can keep the BJP out,” Naushad Aslam, a hotel worker in Belagavi’s Khade Bazaar, said.
Muslims have sided with the Congress or the MES, depending on who they see has stronger prospects to defeat the BJP in this region.
For pro-Kannada outfits, meanwhile, parties do not matter — nor does the caste equation — as long as the MES remains out of power.
There are multiple factors in any election of Belagavi as this border district has Marathas, Lingayats, and SC/ST as the major communities, but the language politics of this region also plays a major role.
‘Intricate web of caste equations’
Suresh Angadi, the BJP MP from Belagavi, died in September 2020, while Umesh Katti, the eight-time MLA from Hukkeri, passed away in September 2022 — reducing the number of influential Lingayat leaders from this region.
The Congress in its campaigns has emphasised how the BJP “ill-treated” Yediyurappa, Savadi and Shettar, in the hope that Lingayats will switch sides.
There are 99 sub-castes within the Lingayats where another layer of politics for dominance plays out.
Yediyurappa and Shettar are from the Banajiga subsect, while 2023 candidates Murugesh Nirani, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Vinay Kulkarni, Laxmi Hebbalkar and Arvind Bellad are from the Panchamasali subsect. Laxman Savadi belongs to the Ganiga subsect. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa are Sadr Lingayats.
Some members of the Panchamsalis, a land-owning agriculture-dependent community, appear to feel slighted by the smaller subsects (Banajigas) occupying higher positions of power and owning most of the educational institutions, hotels and hospitals in the region.
In 1991, Sambhaji Patil, the then mayor of Belagavi (then Belagum), felicitated the then Karnataka chief minister S. Bangarappa — a first for any CM as they would be more used to black flags being waved by pro-Maharashtra factions.
In Belagavi city, which is among the areas disputed between Maharashtra and Karnataka, language matters.
Ashok Chandargi, a political analyst and pro-Kannada activist, explained that the region has Lingayats, Marathas, SCs, STs and a few other communities whose support is contingent on factors like the candidate, cause and perceived return of favours.
“From 1999 till 2013, we got a large chunk of the population to vote for parties that were pro-Karnataka and kept the MES out of the state assembly,” Chandargi told ThePrint.
Though the BJP has openly claimed that it does not want Muslim votes, the party’s legislators from this region have not endorsed their views.
Anil Benake, the BJP MLA from Belagavi north, did not endorse his party’s views on the hijab ban nor sided with the argument that Muslims should be kept out of Hindu traditional fairs. The BJP denied him a ticket.
The Lingayats have their own axe to grind against the Bommai-led BJP over the reservation row. In January this year, Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami, pontiff of Kudala Sangama, threatened to campaign against the BJP if the Bommai-led state government fails to announce better reservation for the Panchamasali subsect of the Lingayats.
The CM carved out two new categories and first tried to placate their anger by promising to give them additional allocations from the economically weaker sections (EWS) and then decided to remove Mulims to redistribute the OBC quota for religious minorities among Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
“We never asked to deprive another community and give us that benefit. You (government) may not give us a belly full of food but they have given us just enough to calm our hunger,” Jaya Mrityunjaya Swami told ThePrint.
‘Sahukar’
In Athani and Ramdurg, two prominent Lingayat leaders (Savadi and Mahadevappa Yadawad) have been denied tickets by the BJP, while in Gokak, it is a “war” against Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is referred to as “sahukar”.
“For the longest time, Lingayats have seen their influence dip in several parts of Belagavi as Ramesh Jarkiholi expands his area of influence,” said Ashok Chandargi.
The “Jarkiholi brothers”, who belong to the Valmiki community (STs), are sugar barons who wield significant influence over the region.
Satish Jarkiholi is the Congress MLA and the party’s working president, while Balachandra Jarkiholi is the BJP MLA from Arabhavi and chairman of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF). Ramesh Jarkiholi is a legislator from Gokak and a former minister and catalyst in the toppling of the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in 2019.
Ramesh has held an iron grip over Gokak since 1999 when he first won the seat and has since expanded his influence in the entire region.
Ramesh backed Mahesh Kumathalli, who was among the 17 Congress-JD(S) turncoats and pressured the BJP not to field Savadi in the 2023 assembly elections from Athani.
Mahantesh Kavatagimath, the BJPs official candidate from the Jangama subsect of Lingayats, lost in the December 2022 MLC elections from Belagavi as Ramesh openly endorsed his brother, Lakhan.
Ramesh has also taken it upon himself to defeat Laxmi Hebbalkar, the Congress candidate from Belagavi Rural whom he considers an arch-rival. Hebbalkar is also a Panchamasali, which lends to the narrative that Ramesh is trying to “finish off” the Lingayat leadership in Belagavi.
“People are angry with Kumathalli because when people go to him for any work, he says that he will bring it to the attention of sahukar,” said one person in Belagavi, requesting anonymity.
“If water and motor are in Athani, the switch for it is in Gokak,” he added.
Arvind Bellad, the BJP legislator from Dharwad, told ThePrint that other backward communities follow the Lingayats and if this statement holds water, then BJP will have troubles.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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