Textbook controversy unexpectedly hampering BJP’s efforts to garner Vokkaliga votes
Textbook controversy unexpectedly hampering BJP’s efforts to garner Vokkaliga votes
One year before the Karnataka assembly elections, Exercises for revising school textbooks The ruling BJP seems to have been pushed into an uncomfortable position after complaints of “insulting” cultural and religious symbols of specific castes in the revised texts. The party is particularly feeling the heat in the old Mysore region, where land-owning Vokkaligas dominate the political narrative, after the opposition Congress and JD(S) took the lead on the issue. The BJP’s perceived gains, after attempts to polarize through issues of hijab, halal and azaan, have been overtaken by controversy over the “insult” of Vokkaliga icon Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, Bengaluru founder and Jnanpith award-winning author Kuvempu.
The timing of the controversy has put the BJP on the backfoot as it attempts to enter the Vokkaliga stronghold in recent times. The party, which relies on Lingayat support in northern Karnataka and believes in polarized coastal Karnataka, feels it is difficult to secure a majority in the 224-member House without substantial gains in the old Mysore region. According to the leaked caste census, Vokkaligas constitute about 12% of the state’s population. He is said to be electorally important in 87 assembly constituencies in 11 districts of the Old Mysore region.
The BJP won a by-election in KR Pet in Mandya district in 2019 and hopes to repeat this success in at least a few more Vokkaliga-dominated areas in the next assembly elections. While Vokkaliga leaders from the urban-based BJP have so far not made any dent in the hinterland, it is also said that the party is toying with the idea of having Vokkaliga as the state president, albeit with other caste interests. have to struggle. Party insiders believe that “unwanted controversy” over textbooks has hindered the party’s plans in the region.
Angry responses were cut, allegedly related to Kempegowda and Kuvempu, and an insult to the state anthem written by Kuvempu by committee chairman Rohit Chakratirtha in 2017. Although Kuvempu commands state-wide respect, political and religious leaders of the Vokkaliga community observe it. Even as an insult to caste. Traditional rivals Congress and JD(S) in the old Mysore region have centered on the issue.
While the textbook controversy began in academic circles, questions were being raised over the saffronisation of textbook material at the behest of the RSS, after KPCC president DK Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga leader and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, took a different colour. . Both jockeying for Vokkaliga votes also put forward the caste angle. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda also added weight behind the protest.
Hurt by the community backlash, the BJP went into damage control mode. It asked Education Minister BC Nagesh to meet Nirmalananda Swami, the seer of the mighty Adichunchanagiri Math, to assure him that the community had not been insulted. It chose Kannada actor Jaggesh, a Vokkaliga, for the Rajya Sabha seat, ignoring the claims of several seniors. To counter the opposition, Bengaluru’s Vokkaliga leader, Revenue Minister R. Ashok was also fielded. It also instituted the Kempegowda International Award and announced that a statue of Kempegowda would be installed in front of Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
One reason for Vokkaliga’s outspoken claim is that the community believes it was “targeted” during the Congress rule and is now again being targeted by the Lingayat-dominated BJP government. With the Congress and JD(S) run by Vokkaligas, the turn taken by the textbook controversy is an uphill battle for the BJP at the moment.
sharath.srivatsa@thehindu.co.in