BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit on Friday will not just set the development agenda, but will also have a hint of social engineering when he meets three religious heads, in an apparent attempt to woo their communities, ahead of the 2023 assembly polls in Karnataka.
As per plan, Modi will pay floral tributes to the statues of saints Kanakadasa and Valmiki, in the presence of Kuruba community religious head Sri Niranjananandapuri Swami and ST Nayaka community’s Sri Prasannananda Swami, at Vidhana Soudha. The Karnataka government recently approved a hike in the SC/ST quota, and the ball is now in the Centre’s court.
Modi, who will unveil Nadaprabhu Kempegowda’s 108-ft bronze ‘Statue of Prosperity’ at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), will be sharing the dais with prominent Vokkaliga religious head
Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swami at a public rally. It remains to be seen whether PM Modi responds to the Vokkaliga community demand for a hike in quota from 4 per cent to 10 per cent.
Modi will also pay floral tributes to the portrait of Onake Obavva, the Dalit woman warrior who had single-handedly fended off Hyder Ali’s forces with a pestle, during the invasion of the rocky fort of Chitradurga in the mid-seventeenth century. The BJP government is already projecting Obavva, who died a heroic death, as a Hindu warrior and her birth anniversary was also observed by the government.
Meanwhile, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy attacked the government, alleging that it was trying to gain political mileage by transforming the Kempegowda statue unveiling into a BJP event. “If they believe it will fetch the BJP the Vokkaliga votes, it’s their illusion. People are closely watching the turn of events and will disillusion the BJP,” he observed, adding that using Kempegowda’s image for political gain is an “unpardonable move”. “Both the BJP and Congress proved disastrous for the city of Bengaluru, built by Kempegowda. We will honour Kempegowda by fixing the problems,” he remarked.
Political pundits say the BJP is going all out to woo the Vokkaliga community in Old Mysuru region, where it is on a weak footing, and where the JDS is still a force to reckon with by virtue of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s towering presence here.