The release of Congress party manifesto yesterday in Bangalore should have come as a relief to both JD(S) and BJP because contrary to the population perception that the “person delving at last has the last laugh”, the manifesto turned out to be a cut and paste of certain paragraphs of last three elections manifesto points. At the end of the day, the Manifesto was a damper. The plethora of promises would be virtually impossible to implement for any government.
However, that does not give any relief to BJP so far as its overall image and credibility in Karnataka is concerned and even a rabble-rouser like Narendra Modi or the BJP patriarch LK Advani who launched his campaign from Bijapur yesterday, would not be able to erase the memory of last 5 years turbulent BJP rule in Karnataka. Modi’s Karnataka campaign managers are still trying hard to curl out “some positive talking points” and till now they have not been able to churn out even a few.
It is open to debate as to how Modi would defend the BJP rule in Karnataka which has been marked by rampant corruption, the misuse of office, communalization of politics and misuse of place of worship, total breakdown of law and order, large scale misuse of office machinery and glaring cases of human rights violations.
Karnataka perhaps became the only BJP ruled state In India where corruption reached an unprecedented height for which many Ministers including the Chief Minister himself had to land in jail. Karnataka, during the BJP rule, earned the titled of being the most corrupt State.
Karnataka also earned the dubious distinction of violating the Supreme Court order as well as the expert opinion of HUDCO, BDA, KAIDB and KHB by the then Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and issue a series of de-notification orders and register those pieces of prime plots and properties in the name of Chief Minister’s son and relatives.
Perhaps no other BJP chief Minister set of a trust as Yeddyurappa’s son did by setting up Prerna Education Society and received crores of rupees for illegal favours extended to the mining, liquor and real estate lobby in the State.
BJP’s misrule in Karnataka also became infamous for rampant illegal mining because of which, the State exchequer incurred colossal loss to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore. What can be worse than the fact that the Karnataka Chief Minister himself admitted on the floor of the House that “ in recent years, more than 3.05 crore metric tons or iron ore worth Rs 15000 crore value in international market had been exported from the State without valid transport permits”.
It would be interesting to see what logic Narendra Modi would offer for the BJP government in Karnataka which bungled in handling the drought situation in 84 talukas in 2009 where the lack of government support led to huge cattle loss and forced many farmers to commit suicide and migrate elsewhere for livelihood and employment. The same was the case with floods in 14 districts in 2009 where stories about widespread allegations on the tardy progress in the payment of compensation, relief and rehabilitation works surfaced in the local media for weeks together.
Similarly, what logic would be forwarded for the colossal damage to the natural resources of the State, large scale-deforestation and abuse of forest land for mining and looting of the States’s precious mineral resources by the notorious Bellary mafia which plundered and continued to loot huge amount of iron ore, sand and granite with the tacit blessings of the Chief Minister.
Karnataka under BJP rule also created a history of sorts by squandering State funds for grants to religious mutts with the intention of communalizing society. One such case which raised state-wide hue and cry was the illegal transfer of historical Gokarna temple at Shri Ramchandrapur Mutt even as about 400 acres of forest land and 120 acres of revenue land already been encroached upon by this Mutt. Moreover, the BJP government dolled out a grant of Rs 2 crore to this Mutt from the State’s exchequer.
It would be equally interesting to see how Modi would defend and justify the acts of moral policing in Dakshina Kannada district by the right wing Ram Sene( with tacit BJP support) whose members molested and frightened women in Mangalore on the Valentines Day through its vulgar “Pink Chaddhi campaign”.
Karnataka during the BJP rule also has the become an object of national ridicule when three BJP legislators including Laxman Savadi, Krishna Palemar and CC Patil were caught red handed on camera, watching porn clippings through their mobile phone while sitting in the Assembly where there was a serious debate going on the drought prone areas of the State in more than 100 talukas.
Karnataka during the BJP rule also earned another distinction as the government of criminals. Apart from two senior Ministers Harathal Hallappa and Renukacharya who were already facing criminal cases against them, Medical Education Minister Ramchandre Gowda had to step down because of serious mismanagement and corruption involved in the appointment of staff in Medical colleges. Minister Krishnaiah Shetty lost his Ministership because of his and his brother’s involvement in the Housing Board scam with more than Rs 500 crore. In addition, cabinet minister Katta Subrmanya Naidu had to quit his ministry and lad in jail following charges of amassing crores of rupees in Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board scam.
Modi has always been talking of “inclusive growth and responsive government’ as the hallmark for his success in Gujarat. However, it would be amusing to see how he defends his party government in Karnataka which has turned into a “Transfer Industry” of late. The State administration has been in chaos and the annual transfer of officials have been turned into money spinning business and in the process, left hundreds of efficient, competent and sincere officers demoralized.
Moreover, Modi and Yeddyurappa have enjoyed very cordial relationship between them for a long time and Modi went to the extent of expressing his displeasure on the way Yeddyurappa had been removed. With yeddyurappa now being a political rival and heading Karnataka Janata Party(KJP), it remains to be seen if Modi would muster up courage to take pot shots at him as he has been doing with all Congress leaders.
Faced with these odds, Modi may as well develop cold feet and instead of getting involved in the muck-raking in Karnataka, he might as well think of even skipping his Karnataka campaign tour and leave a hapless BJP to fend for itself. The BJP leaders in karnataka are hopeful till now that Modi’s rallies in Northern Karnataka would be a huge morale booster for the party cadre and help in swinging at least 5 to 7 percent ‘floating votes’ in favour of BJP.
They also claim that Modi has been immensely popular among the urban youth and his sharp attacks on the failures of UPA II Government and his phrases like “Moun Mohan Singh” have made him a star overnight. Would that ground swell of liking and popularity would convert into vote basket for BJP in Karnataka is still a billion dollar question about which no BJP leader in the State wants to hazard any guess. All such speculations would be counted for once he lands in Karnataka for campaign on 28th April. Till then, BJP would have to keep its fingers crossed ( CONCLUDED) (Posted on April 25, 2013 @ 2.00pm)
(Ajay Jha is a Commentator and Independent Writer and Analyst on Politics, security and Economy of South And West Asia. His email id is: Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com>)
