(Outlook
December 25, 2006)
KARNATAKA
Watching The Waves, Silently
The BJP has got a foothold in coastal Karnataka—thanks to the Congress
As the Sangh parivar paints coastal Karnataka saffron, the Congress remains a helpless bystander. Party veteran and ex-Union minister C.K. Jaffar Sharief told Outlook: "Unfortunately, Congress leaders from this region, Oscar Fernandes, Veerappa Moily, Janardan Poojary and Margaret Alva are all in Delhi. The people’s representatives must be there to counsel partymen to tackle the Sangh. But there seems to be a lack of ideological commitment. Earlier, S.M. Krishna as chief minister allowed the communal elements to grow."
Today, within the Congress’ Karnataka unit, there is division and despair. Some feel the only way out is the Gujarat route, playing the soft Hindutva card. Take Poojary who was MP from Mangalore ( 1977 -1991), now riot-scarred. In 1991, the Ram temple movement swept him aside—or so he believes. He responded by renovating the city’s Gokarnath temple, getting Rajiv Gandhi to inaugurate it before launching an annual Dussehra yatra to rival the royal one in Mysore. He defends this today, saying this shrine was one of the first in the south open to Dalits—and therefore the renovation and the Dussehra yatra was as much about social reform as religion. But clearly, it was an attempt to win back the Hindu vote.
Journalist and member of Karnataka’s Communal Harmony Forum Gauri Lankesh says, "The coastal belt has a long tradition of peaceful Hindu-Muslim co-existence. But no more. And the Congress here—like in Gujarat—is rapidly becoming the BJP’s B team." Party general secretary Margaret Alva disagrees: "The BJP has no issue but communalism, and Deve Gowda (former prime minister) is making them respectable. We are fighting them politically." Asked why this isn’t evident, she retorts, "Do you expect us to take to the streets?"
Some Congressmen are worried that targetting Deve Gowda will only help the BJP fill the non-Congress space: Says a local leader, "If that happens, Karnataka will be the first southern state where the BJP will establish itself as a major party—thanks to us."
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