BJP banks on growth, ideology in central and southern Karnataka
“Development is the reason why the BJP will win in the state and bag 8-9 seats in the Tumkur district. After work for the Smart City project was completed and with the opening of the food park and the HAL factory, the face of the district has changed,” said Vinay Bidre, state secretary of the BJP in Karnataka.
The Bharatiya Janata Party‘s strategy of steering its election campaign on the axis of development and ideology is conspicuous on the ground in Tumkur and the adjoining Davangere.
In Tumkur, where the party is the incumbent in five of the 11 assembly seats, the focus is on development, with barely an acknowledgment of the ideological concerns. Here, the party has gone all out to advertise its smart city project as proof of its development agenda. Tumkur, with its food processing park; the HAL helicopter factory; and the smart city is hailed by the BJP as one of the most successful transformations of a city in recent years.
“Development is the reason why the BJP will win in the state and bag 8-9 seats in the Tumkur district. After work for the Smart City project was completed and with the opening of the food park and the HAL factory, the face of the district has changed,” said Vinay Bidre, state secretary of the BJP in Karnataka.
In Davanagere, a three hour drive from Tumkur, development is a poll issue, but there is no mistaking what appeals to the electorate -- ideological issues. Hindutva, is helping the party reap dividends in the city, known for its textile industry and educational institutions.
“People in Davanagere take pride in being associated with the Hindutva ideology and the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. During the Congress rule eight people were killed and over 70 injured in the shooting that happened during the Ram temple movement, said BJP leader Yashwantrao Jadhav.
His reference is to the October 1990 violence in Davanagere ahead of an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to mobilise support for the construction of the temple in Ayodhya.
In some ways, this focus on development and Hindutva is not very different from the approach the BJP has used in other states and in the 2019 polls -- leverage the benefits of welfarism; push the development agenda; and consolidate the Hindu vote using Hindutva.
According to Bidre, development could help the BJP break new ground in Tumkur, where it has traditionally banked on Lingayat votes. “The Congress is playing the minority appeasement card, the JDS is relying on inducement and emotional arm twisting to retain votes, but because the development work benefited people from all castes, we are expecting a win even in seats like Gubbi, which we have never won,” Bidre said.
Gubbi’s incumbent legislator is SR Srinivas from the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S).
In Tumkur, the Lingayats and the Vokaliggas are the largest caste groups followed by Kurbas, scheduled castes and Muslims. In 2018, the BJP won primarily on account of support from the Lingayats that hold sway in nine of the 11 seats in the district.
“The JDS is trying to woo people by giving them free saris, free pilgrimage and other inducements, but we are telling people to look around and see the changes on the ground and the difference that a double engine government has made to their lives,” said Vishwanathan, a member of the BJP’s IT cell in the district, referring to an advantage the BJP has always leveraged in states where it is in power -- the benefits of having the same party in power in the state and the Centre.
GowriShankar Swami, the sitting MLA from the Tumkur rural constituency, which was won by the JDS in 2018, isn’t sure that will work because of an issue his party and the Congress have sought to focus on -- corruption.
“People are rejecting the BJP here because of unemployment, corruption, and price rise. They give ₹450 as subsidy for a cooking gas cylinder which costs nearly ₹2,000. The fight here is between the JDS and the Congress and the BJP is third,” he said.
The JDS leader said his party has promised one job per family if it comes to power in the state.
While the BJP is confident that the wide cemented roads, the bustling activity in the food processing park, and the buzz around industries have drowned out criticism from the opponents and met the aspirations of the people, there is a murmur of discontent among the residents.
Outside the University College of Arts, young women count lack of safety and jobs as primary concerns. Chandana, a first-time voter who is studying to be a pharmacist says women cannot move out freely at night and there is an overall sense of lack of security that needs to be addressed. “Women’s safety is an issue; girls cannot move out freely. We also want the government to spell out what its policy on employment will be. We fear we may have to migrate because there aren’t enough jobs in the state.”
Lack of white-collar jobs is an oft repeated concern in the district.
Sivaraman, who runs a small store selling snacks said when land was procured for the food park, there were promises of jobs. “Most of the people who we employed have been given work that is not commensurate with their education, mostly labourer jobs,” he said.
The Congress too has made jobs a theme in its campaign. In a short video, the party questioned the ruling BJP about its unfulfilled promises of providing 8, 000 jobs in the HAL factory and the shortfall in water and power supply despite the claims of being a smart city.
There are no such qualms about the BJP in Davangere, despite acknowledgement that the party has not done enough.
In the Anjaneya Mill area, for instance, residents said they will go with the BJP, even though the local legislator is not very popular. “The BJP legislator N Linganna has not come here after he won the elections, but people will vote for the BJP because of [Prime Minister, Narendra] Modi,” said Kamalam, a housewife whose family runs a kiosk from their home.
The PM’s popularity and the party’s ideology find favour with Ganesh, an upper caste fruit vendor and Kenchappa, who sells coconuts and is from a ST community. Both rent space in Kamalam’s porch and complain about benefits of social schemes eluding them.
“In 2018 I was given money to build a house, but there has been no other benefit. The cooking gas and food prices are soaring, and the government has not controlled these, but we don’t think these reasons are good enough to move to the Congress, because we don’t see them being able to do much. So, at the end of the day, we may consider voting for the BJP only,” Ganesh said.
In Davangere, where the BJP currently holds 5 of the 7 assembly seats, the party is confident of consolidating the Lingayat, the ST and the SC votes to counter the Congress’s vote bank of Muslims and Kurbas.
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