E-Paper
30-yr-old incident, former CM Veerendra Patil become focus of Karnataka poll campaign
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah have referred to the fate of the twice-elected chief minister Veerendra Patil in an effort to blunt the Congress’ strategy of attacking the ruling party for what they see as neglect of the Lingayat community
NEW DELHI: A three-decade old incident and a chief minister who died 27 years ago have become a major talking point in Karnataka’s assembly election campaign. While many may not remember the name of Veerendra Patil, his name and his stature as a Lingayat leader has been weaponised by the Bharatiya Janata Party against the Congress, ironically, Patil’s party. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have referred to the fate of the twice-elected chief minister in an effort to blunt the Congress’ strategy of attacking the ruling party for what they see as neglect of the Lingayat community, which accounts for 17% of the state’s population.
The BJP’s retort is aimed at blunting the Congress’ efforts gain from BJP’s BS Yeddiyurappa, also a Lingayat moving out as the CM in 2021, to take a seat in the party’s parliamentary board. Calling the exit of the senior-most BJP leader in the state from the post an insult , the Congress hoped to gain electorally. But PM Modi revived memories of an incident on the tarmac of Bengaluru airport in 1990.
On October 3 that year, Karnataka was rocked by communal riots in the wake of the Bhartiya Janata Party’s rath yatra, to mobilise support for a Ram Temple at Ayodhya. VP Singh was the Prime Minister but as the leader of the Congress Party, Gandhi headed to Bengaluru to do some damage control in the party ruled state. News reports of the time say that Patil had suffered a stroke a few days earlier and was bedridden.
“CK Jaffer Sharief was with Rajiv Gandhi and he briefed him to say that the state cannot be left in charge of someone who was indisposed,” said MB Patil, a former minister and the Congress’ Lingayat face. “So Rajivji did what he thought was best and he announced a leadership change in the state.” This announcement on the tarmac has become a tale for the ages, a reminder how ruthlessly the Congress’ high command behaves, even towards mighty local leaders. In fact, it’s this one incident that political observers cite to explain why the Lingayat community, that makes up 17% of the vote share in the state, turned its back on the grand old party. Not surprisingly, references to the incident by the BJP have picked up in the recent days.
“History is the witness how Congress leaders like S. Nijalingappa and Veerendra Patil ji were humiliated by the party. The people of Karnataka are aware of this,” said Modi on February 27 in Belagavi. PM Modi’s reference to former chief minister Nijalingappa, refers to his fading into oblivion after the Congress’ split in 1969, with Indira Gandhi being part of the rival Congress (R) faction. “Insulting Karnataka leaders is part of the old Congress culture. Anyone who causes problems to the special family members of the Congress is humiliated in the Congress,’’Modi added.
A week later, Amit Shah drove this message home again while addressing a public meeting in the state. “Rajiv Gandhi insulted (former Karnataka chief minister) B. Veerendra Patil in an airport,” he said.
“It is totally a wrong impression,’’ said Patil. “Veerendra Patil was given many opportunities by the Congress even after he defected to the Janata Party and fought against Indira Gandhi in Chikmagalur in 1978. He was entrusted the top position. So it is wrong to say that the Lingayats don’t vote for us because of this.”
Patil has indicated that the party would give 10 more seats to Lingayat candidates as compared to 43 last time around. “17 of them won last time around and that’s not a bad strike rate,” he said. “The community can see that it’s the BJP which treats Yeddiyurappa badly and that’s why they are saying all this to cover up.’’
It is widely believed that Yeddyurappa was convinced to step down from the CM’s post in 2021, and recent utterances by senior BJP leaders in the state such as CT Ravi have not helped.
“How are we treating him badly?” asked said BJP legislator and general secretary Ravi Kumar. “He is in the parliamentary board and is our senior leader of the party. It’s the Congress which treated Veerendra Patil badly. I want to ask one thing. Will the Congress make a Lingayat a CM?” ”Everyone knows that the BJP wanted to make someone like Pralhad Joshi the CM face and only went with Bommai to not upset the Lingayat community. But people can see through this,’’ countered Patil.
As the parties ready for polling on May 10, it may be a question of whose hurt caused bigger and lasting impact-- the historic change of guard in 1990 or the more recent change in 2021.
