ON THE ROAD: Amorphous Christian community vote and its value in a tight bipolar contest in Telangana

With polling day barely a week away, the Telangana election has become an increasingly tight bipolar contest with an overwhelming majority of seats set to be a fight between the Congress and the ruling BRS. Both parties are going to great lengths to make every vote count.

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Small in number, but sought after

The Christian community accounts for only 1.3 percent of Telangana’s population, yet the nature of its composition makes it challenging to approach but too valuable to ignore in a bipolar contest.

Concentrated largely in the districts of Hyderabad-Secunderabad and Ranga Reddy, the Christian community can claim to have a notable presence in Medak, Nalgonda, and Warangal, other than some tribal belts.

“They are not a united, structured, strong vote bank like Muslims, but are an influential segment in at least two districts which are our strongholds. They are a determining factor in seats where they make up 25,000 to 30,000 of the voters,” a BRS leader supervising the party’s election strategy told South First.

The Congress, too, has been holding a series of meetings with bishops, priests, evangelists, pastors, Christian thought and social leaders. Leaders of the Congress, including the likes of Karnataka’s Minister for Power KJ George, have been working towards seeking pledges in their party’s favour by the community.

While one might argue that since the community is concentrated in two districts, outreach should be easier. That is far from the ground reality. Unlike the Muslim community, which is more structured and distinctly assertive, the Christian community is Telangana is an amorphous group.

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The catch in catching Christian votes

While the more popular Christian denominations like Catholics and Protestants have structures in place, they are in a minority, much like the Anglo-Indian Christians within the community.

A majority of the Christian community in Telangana are part of independent ministries, evangelical cults, local sects, parishes — largely belonging to non-denominational churches founded by a religious preacher.

The Calvary temple which KTR visited, too, is a prominent evangelical and non-denominational Christian congregation.

Walk into a large church or small parish in Telangana and you will find not just Immanuel Henry, Stephanie Mary but also Niharika Raju or even a Rajashekahara Reddy.

Take, for example, Dr Vidya Shravanti — a BRS member in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. She has a Hindu-sounding name but is Christian by faith. The party’s candidate in Khanapur reserved constituency is not a Christian by faith but has “Johnson” for a name.

The largely indistinguishable names and lack of a structure makes the character of the community in Telangana peculiar and, in turn, challenging for parties to tap into. There is a reason for that.

“A majority of Christians in Telangana are converted persons from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes(SCs, STs, or BCs) of the Hindu caste hierarchy system. They retain their names but become practising Christians and follow their village preacher or evangelist. Muslims are distinguishable by their names, but that is not true of Christians in both Telugu states,” pointed out a senior leader of the Congress appointed as observer to Telangana.

It essentially means that very village could very well have its own parish or church that doesn’t come under the purview or control of a more organised structure like the Church of South India with hierarchies of congregations, pastorate, dioceses, and Synod.

“Not all of the Christian community is structured. We have independent churches and priests. The community, however, sees the bishops, pastors, cardinals, priests as thought leaders and social influencers. They are guided by the priests. Community leaders hold sway over voters,” FR Michael, a senior member and former office bearer of the Church of South India, told South First.

As if on cue, political parties and leaders have been lining up at churches seeking prayers, meetings with congregations — big and small.

The BRS and Congress are seen as possible options as against the BJP, whose push for an anti-conversion Bill is viewed as an irritant by the community.

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What the community wants

Christina Lazarus, a former Congress MLA representing the Anglo-Indian community in the erstwhile Andhra legislature pointed to promises from parties that are renewed ever year at Christmas but never delivered.

“The Christian community is not assertive and demanding like the Muslim community, that’s why you don’t see us seeking votes, representation and space,” she said.

BRS leaders, however, insist that the the K Chandrashekar Rao government has elected MLCs from the community and has also appointed members as chiefs of boards and corporations. “It isn’t like other parties have any prominent Christian leaders,” a BRS leader said in defence.

From Christian community halls to well-spread graveyards, the Christian community has put together a list of demands from parties this election.

“There is an overwhelming feeling of being neglected by the party in power. The focus seems to be only on Muslims, and not Christians or other minorities. There is no denying that the community feels maybe a change of governments can be good,” said a community leader who did not want to be identified.

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Small, but significamt

With close to 13 percent population, Muslims may play a pivotal role in some 44 seats in Telangana. But neither the Congress nor the BRS is confident of consolidating the Muslim votes completely in their favour.

With the Congress wooing the Muslim community, BRS has given in to the reality of losing considerable Muslim votes, but is confident of retaining at least half of the community’s vote share.

The Congress is estimated to have received less than 18 percent of Muslim votes in 2018 Assembly polls, but this time is confident of a three-fold increase.

Given that Congress is hoping to wrest seats away from BRS in Secunderabad, Rangareddy, Medak, Warangal and prevent the ruling party from winning a single seat in Nalgonda, the concentrated population of the Christian community may hold the key to alter results.

With the Christians perhaps having an influential presence is about 10 seats in the 119-seat Telangana Assembly where the simple majority stands at 60, the community could well play a small but significant role in the coming election.