Karnataka’s election is not just about Lingayat issue. There is a hoarding and Twitter war going on in the state ahead of elections.
Much of the debate and analysis about the Karnataka election campaign has been over the Lingayat issue and the Congress government’s recommendation of giving them the minority religion status.
But one strand that has not been highlighted so far is how the Congress government is selling its achievements to the voters.
Initially, the Sidddaramiah government started off with ‘Sadhana Sambrama’ (celebration of achievements) of the government in December 2017, inaugurating a slew of development projects in Basavakalyana and Bidar.
Then the Congress party in the state prepared a ‘people’s manifesto’ after Rahul Gandhi asked the party leaders to do the same in January. This was followed by a massive advertising campaign across platforms to claim that they have indeed ‘walked the talk’ and initiated many of the promises made in the manifesto.
For a government that came to power with the AHINDA formula, its welfare programs appear to be the centrepiece of its communication strategy in this campaign.
From rice to shoes, textbooks, cycles, laptops, cattle, gas, and more recently, even dentures for old people – the past four years has seen a steady growth of government giveaways. Programs like Ksheer Bhagya, Anna Bhagya, Krishi Bhagya, Indira Vastra Bhagya, Indira Canteen, multi-village drinking water scheme have been splashed across advertisements of the Congress government claiming they had helped the poor and migrants during the two consecutive years of drought in the state. Many of the advertisements feature the actual photographs of four or six-lane roads that the government has built.
There is a bit of a hoarding war on as well. In some places, the BJP has put up hoardings posing a number of questions like who brought UKG to government schools or who filled the lakes of Karnataka. The Congress advertisements in these areas come in the form of replies to BJP’s questions.
The hoardings in Bengaluru city exhibit the new city logo, projecting it as a destination for information technology, biotechnology and tourism– an attempt to distract voters from the woes of traffic gridlocks and polluted, shrinking lakes. The Congress party promises to make Bengaluru pothole-free if voted to power and also claims that its government spent Rs 7,300 crore towards the city’s development.
To counter Swachh Bharat, there are government sponsored ‘Swachh Survekshan’ advertisements where officers contact citizens on their mobile phones to understand their level of satisfaction about the cleanliness of their city and their demands for the future.
To counter Modi’s development and ‘New India’ drive, Siddaramaiah launched the vision document and the slogan ‘Navakarnataka Nirmana’ (building a new Karnataka in seven years) campaign.
He tweeted
Aiming to build a New Karnataka 2025 – in thought, philosophy & lived experience, by taking all our citizens along: CM @siddaramaiah
Aiming to build a New Karnataka 2025 – in thought, philosophy & lived experience, by taking all our citizens along : CM @siddaramaiah
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) September 25, 2017
Rural areas were covered by ads like ‘Sada sidda sarkara’ (government that is ever ready) expressing the willingness of Siddaramiah’s Congress as an ever ready and helpful government for those in distress, especially the poor and the farmers. In places like Bijapur or Gadag districts where water supply was a challenge during the summers with lakes drying out and drought situations persisting, the multi-village drinking water scheme has come in handy for the government. The irrigation minister linked the rural tanks to the nearby rivers and helped in reviving the lakes, which in turn has helped in recharging the groundwater resource in most of the villages.
There are also Twitter wars and Facebook jibes– mostly of the CM in the sleeping position while attending official programmes or calling him the divisive force in matters of religion.
Sadanada Gowda, of the BJP, tweeted and tagged the CM: “It is tragic that you have the arrogance to not use the picture of the architect of the Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar on Constitution Day. This is why we say you should learn from Narendra Modi.”
Siddaramaiah responded: “Please apply Ambedkar’s philosophy to your political life and then talk about photographs. Ambedkar is Constitution and Constitution is our Dharma.” He also responded to BJP Karnataka’s tweets with: “Those who have no commitment to Babasaheb’s philosophy now talk about tokens like the use of his picture.”
When Modi visited the state, Siddaramaiah took a jibe at him tweeting: “I am glad you are making time to visit the country’s start-up & innovation hub, Namma Bengaluru today. On behalf of my people, I urge you to find the time for Karnataka’s drinking water needs & help us resolve the Mahadayi dispute (sic).”
BJP state unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa wrote: “Thanks for the welcome CM @siddaramaiah avare! Yes. Karnataka indeed has scripted several firsts – No.1 Corrupt State, 3,500+ farmer suicides, collapse of law & order, mysterious deaths of officers, transfers of honest officials, crumbling infra of Bengaluru.” He ended the message with #KarnatakaTrustsModi.
What is conspicuous by its absence in the Congress campaign— for the first time— is any reference to the leaders of the past such as Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi.
Despite all the blitzkrieg of claims by the Congress, there is a considerable worry among voters over deteriorating law and order situation in the state– ranging from the suicide of a police officer, attack on the Lokayukta, MLA’s son attacking an ordinary citizen to the deaths of BJP cadres in the coastal belt.
Jagadish Shettar, former speaker and CM under BJP rule, said Bengaluru was once known as the Garden City, but it later became the Garbage City and has now become “murder and crime city.” He referred to the ‘atmosphere of fear’ and ‘insecurity’.
Modi also raised this issue when he said: “In Karnataka, there is ‘ease of doing murder’, referring to the spate of murders taken place in coastal Karnataka and Bengaluru.
Modi is scheduled to resume his campaign in the state later this month. The campaign issues may change again.
Harish Ramaswamy is a professor of political science and a political commentator, teaching in Karnataka University, Dharwad.