BJP in Karnataka: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

by Shivasundar In Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been essentially thriving by working through caste – specifi cally on the consolidated support of upper caste Lingayats – and not on the basis of a broader Hindutva ideology. The irony is that the tenets of Lingayat ideology are inspired by the liberal humanism espoused by the 12th century poet-philosopher-reformer Basavanna and his followers and this philosophical position is in direct antagonism with the Hindutva ideology. But then “Basava Dharma” as practised and preached by most of the Lingayat maths in Karnataka today is in tune with Hindutva. FULL TEXT AT: http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/17385.pdf