Caste Politics, AHINDA And Dominant Communities: Case Of Karnataka

By Kestur Vasuki

Like in any other state, Karnataka is no exception to the caste politics and polarisation of communities. With Congress and JDs forging an alliance to take on BJP in the 2019 general elections, the battle is witnessing a peculiar polarisation of communities to the hilt. The comfort of alliance of Congress and JDs has also brought Vokkaligas (Gowda) a powerful dominant community in the state to join hands with AHINDA, (Kannada acronym for minorities, Dalits and backward castes), a platform of backward classes and Dalits.

Former chief minister and undisputed Kuruba (shepherd) community leader Siddaramaiah forging an alliance with the Congress is experimenting a new political formula to take on the right wing BJP. Siddaramaiah taking cue from another backward classes leader and former chief minister late D Devaraje Urs is finding this new political alignment to bring Kuraubas to the fore as one of the dominant communities in Karnataka politics.

After the alliance with JDS, this formula has yielded results in one by poll to Parliament and four assembly seats. Even though Siddaramaiah and former prime minister fought each other all these years , they swear in the name of Congress president Rahul Gandhi forgetting the grass root level workers who are yet to come to terms with this alliance.

BJP in the process, looking at polarising another dominant community Lingayats, has played a key role in the elections after elections in the state. With Yeddyurappa, a strong leader being a Lingayat, the BJP leadership is hoping to break the JDS Congress alliance and is looking towards consolidating and improving its tally. The party also believes that the Modi wave is a factor (Modi being a backward class) in Karnataka and wants smaller communities like the left in the SCs and Madiwalas (washermen), and Chiniwaras(smiths) who are neglected in the process of consolidation. As a thought in the party, many Dalit left leaders are in the BJP and to prove a point, BJP has made Jigajinagi from Vijayapura as a minister in Modi cabinet.

The saffron party, with Modi wave and bringing smaller communities together is working as a strategy to take on the Congress – JDs combine.

For Siddaramaiah, the mantra of AHINDA chant has split the two dominant communities, Vokkaligas and Lingayats, who are historical foes. He, (Siddaramaiah) in his political ambition made Kurubas another dominant community a reality achieved in Karnataka politics today. With this, the BJP has been fighting a straight battle against the Congress and JDs combine in almost all the constituencies except in Mandya where BJP is supporting an independent candidate. In Mandya, the stars are at war and the JDs-Combine candidate, a film star Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Gowda clan is facing Sumalatha Ambareesh, a chaturbhasha star supported by BJP and rebel congress and JDs leaders.

However to counter JDs in Mandya, Sumalatha is using the same formula by joining hands with Dalits, Kurubas , Fishermen and other smaller communities . This smart move opened the doors for AHINDA leaders here (some of them) to support her as she being a widow of Ambareesh and daughter in law of Mandya, the heart land of the Cauvery belt.

In the last Karnataka Assembly polls, if Congress identified more than 100 seats for the three castes — Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Kurubas — the BJP was not far behind as they kept a whopping 75 seats for Lingayats and only 20% for Vokkaligas. The 2011 census shows 84% of the population are Hindu,12.9 Muslim, 1.9 percent Christian, 0.7 percent Jains, 0.2 percent Buddist and 0.1 percent Sikhs.

A rough estimate of the caste composition in the state shows that Lingayats form around 17 percent, Vokkaligas is in between 12 to 14 percent, Kurubas 9 percent and Muslims around 13 percent and rest of them are Dalits and backward classes.

Based on a study in 2014, the party-wise break-up of the caste data reveals a state of greater polarisation of Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities in political parties. Sixty-five per cent of the Lingayat MLAs and only 20% of the Vokkaliga MLAs are with the BJP. The Congress and JD(S) together make up 35% of the Lingayat MLAs and 80% of the Vokkaliga MLAs. This clearly shows the clever politics of JDs to identify and align with Congress for its survival as a regional party. But with its feudal and clannish attitude the party is losing its grip over other communities which are confused with polarisation.

Karnataka will go to polls in two phases, with 14 constituencies each voting on 18 and 23 April. With 28 seats, Karnataka has the second highest number of Lok Sabha seats in South India after Tamil Nadu. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had 43.31 percent, Congress had 41.15 percent and the JDs had secured 11.07 percent of the vote share. BJP had 17 seats, Congress got 9 and JDs had secured 2 seats with this vote share.

After the Pulwama attacks and subsequent surgical strike, India is witnessing a tumultuous days of politics ahead of 2019 elections. Karnataka is no exception to this trend but the coalition government in the state is using all methods to douse the fire by the “politics of consolidation”, to counter the BJP. In the political annals of Karnataka Lingayats during 1971 to 1983 were out of power and polarised to fight the backward classes. In this dominant politics of Lingayats, former Chief Minister Devraja Urs had become a victim.

Many political observers say that in Karnataka, caste and sub systems are coming together to either support or fight Modi. In other words it’s Modi versus Congress and its combine. BJP is depending on the middle class mind set and urban voters to counter the strategy of the combine.

The south Indian states have always had regional parties dominating politics. But in Karnataka, it is always national parties that have exploited the communities and played politics to win. Congress dominated until 1990’s till the emergence of Janata Party. Today the local and regional parties are ruling the roost. May be its Ghatbandhan or regional parties are a reality. Here too JDs of Deve Gowda clan with its alliance with the Congress playing a major role to wipe out the BJP. BJP wants to make Congress Mukth Karnataka and is confident of winning more than 22 seats.

A look back at the political history of the state, former chief minister Devaraj Urs founded the Karnataka Kranti Ranga (KKR) after he came out of the Congress. Another chief minister, Sarekoppa Bangarappa too quit the Congress and joined the KKR and in fact was in a coalition government with the Janata Party in 1983 in the state’s first non-Congress government. This was the first experiment of AHINDA and wisely adopted as model by Siddaramaiah to forge an alliance to fight Deve Gowda. He rebelled against Devegowda and joined Congress to take on the dominant communities. All his life Siddaramaiah was fighting the Congress but joined the congress party and became the chief minister. But cleverly, he has now aligned with JDs to fight BJP for further consolidation of himself in the state politics.

In another first, the BJP formed a government in South India under the leadership of Yeddyurappa, the Lingayat strongman. However, the BJP saw three chief Ministers which include Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and Sadananda Gowda during that period. The government faced many corruption charges and also gave birth to Bellary politics of Gali Janardhana Reddy who went to jail for more than three years on illegal mining and corruption charges. The BJP also conquered Hyderabad Karnataka from the Congress which paved way for inclusive politics of BJP with consolidation of backward classes. However, the BJP’s bad governance paved way for Siddaramaiah to bring back Congress and was the chief minister for full five years.

Later, Yeddyurappa who was thrown out of BJP with serious charges of mining corruption started his own party Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) which captured 11 percent of the votes to defeat BJP. However with the emergence of Modi and his new found BJP, Yeddyurappa bounced back and returned to BJP. This is how as a regional party, JDs of Devegowda and sons is doing acumen politics to be a survivor in the dominant politics of BJP and the Congress.

Karnataka will witness a direct fight between the BJP and the JDs- Congress combine. It’s crucial for both the national parties. The straight fight is significant, and the consolidation of castes and communities is being witnessed in a big way. The religious mutts are also playing a role in the process of consolidation. In the end it’s Modi versus others.

Also Read: Why Karnataka Is Crucial For Both The Congress And The BJP?