Hassan: In March last year, 74-year-old Noor Jahan claimed she was forced to close the toy store she ran near the Chennakeshava Temple in Karnataka’s Hassan district, after members of Hindutva groups operating in the area forbade her from running a business in the vicinity of the temple.
“No one, either individual or political party came to help me,” alleged Jahan, adding that she had been operating the store since 1964 and that her’s was the only Muslim-owned shop among the eight in the immediate vicinity of the temple.
In January last year, weeks after Hindutva groups reportedly put up posters in Varanasi discouraging non-Hindus from approaching the ghats of the river Ganga, banners appeared in parts of Karnataka banning Muslim shopowners from running businesses in the vicinity of Hindu temples.
The call against Muslim business owners operating shops in temple fairs and in the vicinity of temples — endorsed by temple authorities in some areas — came even as the state was grappling with the “hijab row”, which saw a group of Muslim students moving court for the right to wear hijab in classrooms.
In March last year, the then Basavraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka informed the state government that according to the provisions of the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 2002, non-Hindus were not allowed to run businesses in and around Hindu religious institutions.
Facing criticism from the Opposition over the difficulties being faced by Muslim traders, the Bommai government had said, however, if such targeting was happening beyond the Hindu religious area, action would be taken.
Among those who had criticised the government on the issue and the handling of it was the H.D. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular), which had termed attempts to keep out Muslim shopowners from temple fairs and the vicinity of temples as “wrong and undemocratic”.
However, weeks after the party announced an alliance with the BJP in Karnataka ahead of the 2024 elections, Jahan shies away from commenting on the JD(S) stand on the issue.
ThePrint travelled across several of southern Karnataka’s 11 districts — a JD(S) stronghold of which Hassan is a part — to gauge the mood among voters and party members regarding the alliance announced last month, and found disbelief, disillusionment and confusion.
Of the 11 districts — Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru, Hassan, Mandya, Mysuru, Kodagu, Ramanagara, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapur and Kolar —
over two-thirds are Vokkaliga-dominated. Designated among other backward classes (OBC) in Karnataka, the Vokkaligas are a dominant caste in the state with substantial political clout, and have traditionally rallied around the JD(S).
Six of the southern districts — Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Kodagu, Kolar and Chamarajanagara — designated as Old Mysuru, have a population of close to 800,000 Muslims, according to the 2011 population census.
In addition to the Vokkaliga votes, the JD(S) has traditionally relied on Muslim and Brahmin votes to win seats in these 11 districts.
But in the Karnataka assembly elections held in May this year, the JD(S) won just 15 of 73 seats in Vokkaliga-dominated districts, with the Congress — which won the elections — managing to chip away nearly five percent of JD(S) votes, according to Election Commission data. In total, the JD(S) won only 19 of 224 seats.
The alliance with BJP comes in the backdrop of this abysmal poll performance.
According to political analysts, together, the allies will hope to draw on the votes of the Vokkaligas and Lingayats — another dominant caste group in Karnataka, also designated as OBC and believed to be BJP supporters — to take on Congress leader and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) votebank.
“Even if they [JD(S)] get more than two seats — maybe three or four — it will be a big morale boost. This [alliance] was the only choice left for JDS to remain relevant. JDS was not even invited for the Bengaluru summit [of the opposition’s INDIA alliance in July],” claimed political analyst Chambi Puranik, a former faculty member of the political science department at the University of Mysore.
He added: “Even during the swearing-in ceremony [of the Congress government in May], JD(S) was not invited. As such they were not even willing to join the alliance with Congress [this time] because they had a bitter experience between 2018 and 2019.”
Following the Karnataka assembly elections of 2018, Congress and JD(S) had formed a coalition to stake claim to the government. But differences between the allies, followed by the resignations of 15 MLAs from the then-ruling side finally led to the collapse of the government, paving way for the BJP to come to power.
While the JD(S) is likely to gain from the BJP coalition, there is also much at stake, with voices of discontent being raised from within the party.
On Saturday, the Kerala unit of the JD(S) rejected its national leadership’s decision to join the BJP-led NDA, laying bare a growing divide within its ranks. Karnataka state president C.M. Ibrahim has also threatened to quit.
“Deve Gowda is like my father and Kumaraswamy [Deve Gowda’s son and former Karnataka CM] is like my brother. Even today I have the same affection for them. But what hurt me was, I am the party president…You went to Delhi, but you did not say a word to me. You haven’t told me what the discussions were about. So, there is no meaning to react to it,” Ibrahim has been quoted as saying in the media.
Claiming that he had been contacted by National Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and some Congress leaders, Ibrahim has said he’ll wait till 16 October and seek public opinion before taking a call on the future.
Meanwhile, local BJP leaders in some southern Karnataka districts perceive the alliance as a precursor to a JD(S) “merger” with the BJP. The unease of working together with former rivals is voiced by leaders of both parties.
ThePrint reached N.S. Ravi Kumar, the BJP’s state general secretary for comment over phone, but received no response till the time of publication of this report. The article will be updated if a response is received.
Kumaraswamy has maintained that there are no differences within the party cadre or leaders.
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Lies by rivals?
Ever since the JD(S) joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) last month, the nearly seven percent Muslim population of Hassan are a conflicted bunch.
“It is disheartening to see the JD(S) join hands with the BJP. Our community came together to back Deve Gowda and his family in all elections, but now that will not be the case,” claimed Tanveer (identified by first name only), a 32-year-old shopkeeper living in the vicinity of the Chennakeshava temple.
Mohammed Vazeer, a 54-year-old from Hassan, was seeking hope in the belief that this was just a transitory, pre-poll, tie-up.
“After these elections [the 2024 Lok Sabha polls] they [JD(S)] will let go of the BJP. People from Deve Gowda’s family are into opportunistic politics. Moreover, this [the alliance] may not matter since most people from our community have benefitted from the guarantees [poll promises] of the Congress party this time,” he said.
Some ThePrint spoke to appeared to be in denial, attempting to write off news of the alliance as “lies peddled by rivals”. And it is not just the Muslims who appear to be affected by the news of the JD(S)-BJP alliance.
An autorickshaw driver ThePrint caught up with outside the Holenarsipura bus stand in Hassan district — a bastion of JD(S) and Deve Gowda’s elder son, H.D. Revanna — was “sure Dodda Gowdru (Deve Gowda) will never join the BJP”.
The driver, who identified himself as Auto Ramdas, added: We don’t know much but we are sure that Gowda, (HD) Kumaraswamy and (HD) Revanna [the JD(S) chief’s sons] will not go with them [BJP].”
The JD(S)’s Vokaliga votebank, however, may be more accepting of the alliance.
“The BJP has always split Vokkaliga votes when there is a three-way fight [between the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S)], since it has no capital with Muslims or extremely backward classes. So if the three-way fight becomes two-way [with BJP-JD(S)] alliance, then the coalition will benefit,” said Appaji Gowda of Channapatana in Ramanagara district, a former office bearer of the Vokkaligara Sangha.
Sentiments in favour of the alliance may also find support in the fact that the Congress chose Siddaramaiah as CM over Vokkaliga leader D.K. Shivakumar — currently deputy CM in the Congress government.
“JD(S) has 14 percent vote share [in the state] which is largely Vokkaliga vote, and BJP will definitely gain out of that vote. In 2024 Vokkaligas will not vote like they did in the 2023 assembly elections. The Vokkaligas voted for Congress, hoping that D.K. Shivakumar [deputy CM] would be the chief minister. Seeing the recent political rivalry between the Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah camps, I don’t think Vokkaligas will vote for Congress like they did for them in 2024,” said Puranik.
ThePrint also reached at least two senior office bearers of the All India Veershaiva Mahaabha, a Lingayat organisation, over phone for comment, but did not receive a response till the time of publication of this report. The article will be updated once a response is received.
Lingayats and Vokkaligas also nurse a feeling of having been neglected during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as CM between 2013-18, according to political observers, as the Congress leader was purportedly more focussed on the AHINDA votebank.
The previous Bommai-led BJP government meanwhile scrapped the four percent reservation for Muslims under the OBC category earlier this year and diverted the quota to the then newly carved 2C and 2D categories under OBC which are predominantly occupied by Vokkaligas and Lingayats.
With the Bihar government releasing findings of its caste survey this month, pressure has been mounting on the Karnataka government to make the results of state’s socio-economic and educational survey public. The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2015 had commissioned the Social and Educational Survey, at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore in the state, the findings of which have not been made public yet.
The results may threaten the Vokkaliga and Lingayant communities’ position as dominant caste groups in the state, as leaked findings of the 2015 indicated that the communities comprised less than 10 percent of the state’s population, as against the earlier believed strength of 14 percent.
While the JD(S) may therefore have some success in drawing Vokkaliga votes in favour of the BJP alliance, according to analysts, it is unlikely to convince Muslims to accept the alliance.
Differences between party leaders
Despite analysts’ pessimism about JD(S)’s ability to swing Muslim votes in favour of the alliance, and the disappointment voiced by a section of Muslim voters, JD(S) leaders from the community ThePrint spoke to appeared more confident.
The JD(S) leadership has maintained that it will retain its Muslim votebank despite the alliance with BJP.
“The Muslims will go nowhere, they will stay with us. We have both stuck together. Why is the Congress so worried about who we ally with. Deve Gowda knows his politics. As long as we are alive…I have even told my children that we will remain close to the Muslim community…..,” Revanna had told ThePrint after the alliance was announced.
The confidence is echoed by some local southern Karnataka JD(S) leaders ThePrint spoke to.
Unlike in the coastal districts or parts of northern Karnataka, BJP leaders in the Old Mysuru region, with the exception of Kodagu [a Hindutva bastion], have rarely followed hardcore Hindutva politics here.
S.A. Abdul Kader, a JD(S) leader from Beluru in Hassan, told ThePrint that of the two national parties, there was a lesser threat to the regional outfit from BJP.
“Congress gave us a belly full of food, dessert and then stabbed us in the back,” he said of the 2018 & 2019 alliance between the two parties.
Many in the JD(S) ranks believe that it was senior Congress leaders like Siddaramaiah, among others, who played a part in destabilising the coalition government in 2019.
At the MP quarter in Hassan city, leaders from the minority community queued up to meet Revanna last week.
“Yella saabru namm jyothe ne idhare (all Muslims are with the JD(S)],” Akmal Ahmed, a local councilor from Hassan tells Revanna.
The JD(S) and its ally must, however, also prepare for and face the challenge from local leaders in southern Karnataka, from both parties, who voice unease about the tie-up and its nature.
In the JD(S) stronghold of Hassan, BJP leaders like Preetham Gowda are refusing to even acknowledge the joining of hands between the BJP and the JD(S) as an alliance and believe it is a precursor to a “merger”.
According to political analysts, leaders like Gowda care little about carefully crafted and strategic internal coalitions but believe in a more full-frontal confrontation approach, adding to the challenges of the alliance that has just six months left before they face the polls.
“I won the election against Deve Gowda last time. If he is fielded from here (Tumakuru), I don’t know what will be the outcome,” G.S. Basavaraju, the incumbent BJP MP from Tumakuru told reporters on 25 September.
The unease of working together with former rivals is also voiced by some in the JD(S).
“JD(S) lost the 2023 assembly elections. What should be done to make this a plus [positive]? Is this [alliance] limited to just the Parliament elections or for everything else… but what if we get the same results as 2019 [the unsuccessful alliance with the Congress]… then what about those who remain loyal to the party…,” Sharangouda Patil Kandakur, the JD(S) MLA from Gurumitkal had said at the time the alliance was made public.
The scene, according to political analysts, may be ripe for defections.
“With decentralisation, you have locally strong leaders and the bulk of these electoral battles are fought between them which is why you have defections,” Narendar Pani, a Bengaluru-based political analyst and faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) said.
One example, is A.Manju, a minister in the Congress government between 2013-18, who contested on a BJP ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and is now a JD(S) legislator from Arkalgud.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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