The issue came to light as two prominent Lingayat leaders quit the saffron party and joined the Congress after being denied tickets.
Published Apr 20, 2023 | 5:47 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 20, 2023 | 5:48 PM
Pic for representation only. (supplied)
Lingayat leaders of the BJP have raised the pitch for unleashing the “Lingayat CM” campaign in poll-bound Karnataka to counter the Congress’ narrative that brands the ruling party “anti-Lingayat”.
On Thursday, 20 April, responding to questions from reporters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai confirmed that the meeting at the residence of Karnataka BJP strongman and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday evening decided to strongly counter the “misinformation” being spread by the Congress on “some issues”.
The politically influential Lingayat community forms about 17 percent of the state’s population, mostly in the northern parts of the state, which the BJP perceives as a strong vote base.
Senior Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi quit the BJP over the denial of a ticket to contest in the 10 May Assembly elections and joined the Congress.
Shettar made no secret about what he thought the party had done to him.
“Humiliation”, “hurt”, and “ill-treatment” were the words he used to describe his feelings while speaking to reporters after announcing his resignation, even from the primary membership of the BJP.
Laxman Savadi, another Lingayat leader who was consciously propped up by the central leadership of the BJP — especially national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh — as an alternative to the former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa when he was made deputy chief minister, not just quit the BJP last week but also joined the Congress and is now set to contest from Athani Assembly constituency on the party’s ticket.
The ruling party has been in damage control mode since then, with the Congress accusing it of doing “injustice” to Lingayats and being “anti-Lingayat”.
During the meeting, there were suggestions for countering the Congress narrative by projecting that the next chief minister would be from the community in the event of the party coming to power.
“There were some suggestions (on ‘Lingayat-CM). Dharmendra Pradhan (the Union Minister who is the Karnataka election in-charge of the BJP) was also there. He (Pradhan) said he would convey our feelings (on the need for Lingayat-CM) to the high command”.
When a reporter again asked about the Congress narrative branding the BJP as “anti-Lingayats”, the chief minister sought to counter him: “You want to keep the issue alive?”
In the last 50 years since 1967, the Congress has not made a Lingayat a chief minister except for the nine-month tenure of Veerendra Patil, Bommai said. “Don’t ask this question again,” he told the reporter.
There were several instances of how the Congress treated senior Lingayat leaders, the chief minister said, adding that people would not forget how the Congress tried to break the community (demanding a separate religious status to the community) to create a “vote bank” five years ago.
“There is respect, honour and opportunity for all in the BJP,” Bommai said and alleged that the Congress “cheated” Dalits, Lingayats and Backward Classes.
However, a closer look at how things have panned out in Karnataka over the last few years suggests a bigger pattern.
For the central leadership of the BJP and RSS, it isn’t as much about sidelining prominent Lingayat faces as it is about curbing the influence the mathas (monasteries) have on the community through decades-long association with these leaders.
Forcing out Lingayat strongman like Yediyurappa from the chief minister’s chair in 2021, to now denying a ticket to Jagadish Shettar are only a minuscule part of the BJP-RSS’s long game to slowly wean politics in the state away from the influence of mathas.
The mathas — especially of the two dominant communities of Vokkaligas and Lingayats — are powerhouses of political influence in the caste-fueled race of Karnataka politics.
Take for example the BJP’s carefully crafted narrative of ‘Uri Gowda- Nanje Gowda’ to communalise the Vokkaliga heartland in the Old Mysuru region.
Vokkaliga leaders of the party — like Union MoS Shobha Karandlaje, national general secretary CT Ravi, Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayana — have, for months, pushed the narrative of two Vokkaliga chieftains, Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, killing Tipu Sultan — a claim deemed as “fake” and “distorted” by historians and academics.
BJP leader and Minister Muniratna even announced a movie about the “fictional assailants” of Tipu Sultan.
But the issue got a quiet and firm burial after Nirmalanandanatha Mahaswamiji, the chief pontiff of the influential Vokkaliga matha, the Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Math, asked the BJP to put an end to the story citing a lack of historical evidence.
With his one statement, the Vokkaliga seer was able to undo a whole narrative spun carefully for months by BJP.
The state leadership of the BJP is fully aware of how different it is for the party in regions that are driven by ideology and regions that are dictated by castes which are, in turn, influenced by mathas.
