Every state is a challenge for all political parties that seek to test their ideological stand in regions that are constantly evolving. Karnataka remains a question both for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
While the BJP’s rise is based on its combination of social justice politics, which is something the Congress has always espoused, with a case for Hindutva mobilisation that always supersedes caste equations.
Congress’ electoral strategy based on politics of accommodation has been losing ground in the face of the rising tide of Hindutva that the BJP uses to bring together all Hindus under one umbrella. While Hindutva politics has been around in Karnataka for a long time, the recent campaigns involving the hijab and the azaan, and the controversy in Hubballi where a Ganesha idol was placed at the idgah showcase a more polarising variant which wasn’t present, say, under B.S. Yediyurappa.
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There are other factors too—corruption, inner-party turbulence, anti-incumbency—and this election will yet again show if those matter when faced with Hindutva politics. The dissidents and defectors matter in Karnataka politics and it would be an interesting election yet again as it will be the gateway to the South for the BJP, whose Ram Mandir politics might not find much sway here. The Somnath-to-Ayodhya rath yatra in the 1990s attempted to counter Mandal politics with Hindu identity, but caste remains a force, albeit a bit weakened now.
It is not yet known how much impact Karnataka will have on the general elections in 2024, but every assembly election shows the way politics will shape up in the future. That’s why Karnataka matters. Like how Uttar Pradesh did in its assembly elections. The narrative here is not stitched together by singular ideology, but by many strands which we try to decipher in this issue.
