BENGALURU: In the induction of the four MPs from Karnataka into the Union council of ministers, the BJP has gone beyond the obvious caste and regional representation balance. While the four MPs - A Narayanaswamy, Shobha Karandlaje, Bhagwanth Khuba and Rajeev Chandrashekar - may differ when it comes to caste, region of representation, duration of party membership etc., a common thread is the push for Hindutva and ultranationalism.
These two components are set to be the BJP’s poll pitch in Karnataka in the next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. All four ministers are unapologetic ideological hardliners of the BJP and that is the message the party is hoping to get across to its cadres and voters.
Hours before she took oath as MoS for Agriculture in the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, Shobha Karandlaje deleted all her tweets. Her Twitter account, which was created in 2010, now has only some 15 tweets. Before the cleansing, Karandlaje’s handle was filled with provocative tweets, interspersed with photos of her work and engagements.
Her tweet from 2017 alleging “torture” of a Hindu youth, Paresh Mesta, at the hands of “jihadis” got her national headlines. Her elaborate claims of torture were refuted by forensic experts and the case was eventually transferred to the CBI which is still investigating the matter. In another instance, an FIR was filed against her for communal incitement.
In 2020, Bidar MP Bhagwanth Khuba grabbed headlines after he asked the State Government to “blacklist” a school for staging a play against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Khuba backed the sedition charges against the parents of students in the play and teachers of the school as well as the police interrogation of the minor students. In March that year, a sessions court granted bail to all accused and held that the play was prima facie not seditious.
A Narayanaswamy, although never caught making communally charged remarks, is a staunch RSS karyakarta who puts his ‘Hindu’ identity above his Scheduled Caste identity.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who shot to prominence in Kerala during the Sabarimala temple row, as a defender of Hindu traditions, is also an ultra-nationalist who has defended the BJP’s Hindu appeasement policies as the party’s national spokesperson.
Senior members of the party suggest that the thinking behind these choices has a lot to do with what the BJP intends to go to the people with, in the next elections - Hindutva, nationalism and development. “All of them are ideological strongmen. They have been unabashed about their Hindu identity. It was only in 2008, when JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy refused to hand over power, that Lingayats became a dedicated factor in BJP poll victories, but that also led to the loss of votes from other Hindu communities.
Before that, it was always a consolidated Hindu voter base - even when we were winning seats in just double digits. The next election will see a Hindu consolidation again. Our core poll pitches will be Hindutva, nationalism and development,” said a senior office-bearer of the party. The move comes at a time the party in Karnataka is desperately attempting to shake off the image that elections can be won only under Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s leadership.