BENGALURU: Was the promise to ban Bajrang Dal within the Karnataka Congress manifesto forward of the elections aimed toward consolidation of Muslim votes? Multiple Congress leaders together with those that had been within the manifesto drafting committee confirmed that the proposal was inserted on the final minute in order that the BJP makes it a serious marketing campaign concern. The Congress in its manifesto for elections to the 224-member Assembly in Karnataka mentioned it was dedicated to taking agency and decisive motion in opposition to people and organisations spreading hatred amongst communities on grounds of caste and faith.
The Congress mentioned, “We believe that law and Constitution is sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI (Popular Front of India) or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities. We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on such organisations”.
The BJP very quickly latched onto the proposal within the manifesto launched on May 2. The identical afternoon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his election speech at Hospet, the district headquarters city of Vijayanagara, dubbed the promise as one just like locking up Lord Hanuman. He additionally made a degree to boost slogans ‘Jai Bajrangbali’ firstly and finish of his election speeches within the state thereafter.
According to a member of the manifesto drafting committee, the road on Bajrang Dal was inserted intentionally, which yielded electoral dividends. Muslims accounted for almost 13 per cent of the voters within the polls. “We had drafted two sets of manifestos. One was given to top Congress leaders in the first week of April itself and second one was prepared a week after the first one,” a Congress chief informed PTI.
Finally, one closing copy was ready incorporating all of the recommendations and it was about to be despatched for printing late evening May 1. “Just before the manifesto was sent for printing, a key Congress general secretary actively involved in the party’s strategy for the elections got the line on banning Bajrang Dal inserted. It was deliberate,” one other Congress office-bearer mentioned.
“This leader might have calculated that the BJP’s aggressive Hindutva narrative in the Karnataka election will consolidate the Muslim votes in favour of Congress and his strategy worked,” he added. As ‘Bajrangbali’ (Hanuman) grew to become an enormous speaking level within the election, some Congress manifesto committee members confronted the warmth from a few of their very own leaders who feared that the transfer may back-fire.
“I was especially nervous because if anything had gone wrong, the entire blame would have fallen on our team,” a manifesto committee member mentioned. “As expected, the BJP did not miss the opportunity offered on the platter by the Congress and went gung-ho,” a Congress chief mentioned. The Congress scored a thumping win with 135 seats, whereas the BJP and JD(S) secured 66 and 19 seats, respectively.
In the 2018 elections, the Congress garnered a vote-share of 38.04 per cent, adopted by the BJP (36.22 per cent) and the JD(S) (18.36 per cent). In the just-concluded polls, Congress vote share zoomed to 42.88 per cent; that of JD(S) dipped to 13.29 per cent and BJP’s vote share dropped simply 0.22 proportion factors to 36 per cent.
According to political analysts, there was a consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of the Congress. “Muslims solidly voted for the Congress. Overwhelming section of the minority community, may be 80 per cent or more, voted for the Congress,” one other political observer mentioned. There was a major shift of Muslim votes from JD(S) to Congress, one other political observer mentioned, noting that the JD(S) seat share was diminished from 37 in 2018 to only 19 this time, and vote share dropped by greater than 5 per cent.
“Polarisation is a double-edged sword. While the BJP voters remained intact with their party, those votes which were scattered between Congress and the JD(S) ‘polarised’ in our favour,” a Congress chief mentioned.
