Ahead of elections, JD(S) looks to diversify outreach

The party’s efforts seem to be directed in nudging out the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Old Mysuru and other parts to increase its tally in the 2023 assembly elections.

Regional party Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S)’s consistent stand against right-wing groups and their systematic targeting of Muslims in Karnataka is likely to help the party reap political gains in the upcoming elections as it looks to cash in on the distance maintained by the Congress towards its key support base, the minorities.

JD (S) president H D Deve Gowda with his son and party MP HD Kumaraswamy at Parliament House in New Delhi. (PTI)

In Karnataka’s caste-based political system, the BJP is believed to have the support of the Lingayats while the JD(S) has seen the Vokkaligas consolidate behind the party in recent elections. The Congress depends on votes from minorities, a section of the backward classes and Dalits among other groups.

JD(S), led by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and his former chief minister son HD Kumaraswamy, is attempting to diversify its outreach instead of relying completely on Vokkaliga-backed support, like earlier.

The party’s efforts seem to be directed in nudging out the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Old Mysuru and other parts to increase its tally in the 2023 assembly elections.

“When a Hindu worker was murdered in Shivamogga, a huge team of the BJP leaders went there. To show that they are not any less, now the Congress has reached, with a huge team, at the house of Santosh (Patil) but only for politics,” Kumaraswamy said on Thursday.

“They are trying to play politics even in a home where a death has taken place. Look at them (Congress leaders) sitting in front of the lady (Patil’s wife), it looks like they only want political gains.”

Slamming both the BJP and Congress, former minister and JD(S) legislator Bandeppa Kashampur said, “The BJP wants to take use these issues (targeting of Muslims by right-wing) for its advantage. On the other hand, Congress, after its loss in five states, has lost its ideology and character.”

“Whether it is the hijab or other issues, both inside and outside the legislature, they (Congress) did not raise a strong voice. They are behaving as though they are not sure if the minorities will be with them and are adopting soft Hindutva. They (Congress) are weak in attacking when it comes to these issues,” he said.

After the hijab controversy rocked the state in January, the Congress took almost a month to react to the issue, putting on risk how it will be viewed by one of its biggest support bases. Not only this, the party also maintained a stoic silence over the Harsha Jingade murder case and ensuing communal riots in Shivamogga.

Due to the national party’s absence from the big picture, smaller outfits like the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are gaining popularity, leading to splitting of minority votes, which in turn benefits the BJP.

Kashampur said that the JD(S) standing against the onslaught of right-wing groups against Muslims is more on the basis of “humanity” than to benefit from it “politically”.

There are only seven Muslim legislators in the 224 seater Karnataka legislative assembly. The community forms over 13% of the state’s over 70 million population. The state had nine Muslim legislators in 2008 and 11 in 2013.

Departure of Muslim leaders like Roshan Baig and CM Ibrahim from the Congress in recent years is also not helping the party’s cause.

The BJP and JD(S) are believed to have an understanding of sorts in the Old Mysuru region where both consider the Congress as the common enemy. However, the BJP has been making inroads in these parts that threatens the JD(S) which also draws most of their numbers from these parts.

Out of the 38 seats JD (S) won in the 2018 elections, only six were from the northern districts of the state while the remaining came mainly from Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Tumakuru and other southern districts.

JD(S) won all seven seats in Mandya district in 2018 as the Vokkaligas who had been nursing the feeling of neglect under Siddaramaiah’s reign between 2013-18, stood firmly behind Deve Gowda-led JD(S).

BJP has since poached at least three legislators from the JD(S) and also registered its first ever victory in Mandya in the December 2019 bypolls.

“People in the region are now becoming aware that they don’t need to depend on Muslims in all aspects of life or even for basics like buying meat, mangoes etc. Whether this will have any benefit politically is something that has to be seen,” said a BJP leader from Mandya district , requesting not to be named.

The Congress has also poached GT Deve Gowda into its ranks who had defeated then sitting chief minister Siddaramaiah from the Chamundeshwari constituency in 2018 assembly elections.