Siddaramaiah’s Kannada Pride Gambit May Counter BJP’s Nationalism

Congress is raking up Kannada pride to reap electoral gains ahead of assembly elections next year.

Demonstration against the release of Cauvery water in Bengaluru, on 5 October, 2016. Unofficial yellow and red flags can be seen in the background.

(Photo: IANS)

Successful campaigns by Kannada activists against Hindi imposition and the latest move by the Karnataka government to have a separate flag for the state are likely to snowball into a major issue ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

While the Congress has backed the anti-Hindi imposition campaigns and is well placed to derive electoral benefit that they may yield, the state BJP is caught between the devil and the deep sea. Unable to take a clear stand on the language issue or the flag proposal, state BJP leaders are tying themselves up in knots with the fear of a rap from their bosses in New Delhi and Nagpur weighing heavily on them.

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The BJP's, and much more the RSS's, preference for Hindi as a common link language in the absence of a constitutionally-mandated national language, has exposed the state BJP to trenchant attacks from pro-Kannada activists. Revelling in the BJP's discomfiture, the Congress is driving the knife deeper.

Also Read: Karnataka Flag Debate: MHA Says ‘One Nation, One Flag’

BJP’s Dilemma

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has thrown a challenge at the BJP to openly declare that it is against a state flag. Union minister and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda said there cannot be two flags in one country.

Another BJP leader CT Ravi said it was laughable that the state government, which has named canteens after Indira Gandhi, wanted people to fall for its "sudden love for Kannada and Karnataka." But yet, there has been no categorical rejection of the idea of a separate flag from the BJP.

There is a significant section of voters for whom regional pride and language matter. It is not that this section is the vote bank of any one party, but BJP voters who harbour strong pro-Kannada sentiments are bound to feel let down. Without doubt, this is something that the BJP will be concerned about.

More so because pro-Kannada activists have been unleashing one campaign after another on social media to demand – for instance, services in banking and financial institutions in Kannada. They recently succeeded in getting Hindi signages from Bengaluru's Namma Metro removed after a relentless campaign that made national headlines and generated a debate on alleged Hindi imposition, rights of states, and federalism.

It is not as if the Karnataka flag has not been used in official events all these years. In fact, it has been flown in public functions like Rajyotsava (State Formation Day) alongside the National Tricolour, even when the BJP was in power in the state.

All that Siddaramaiah is trying to do now is give the flag an official status.

Breather for Siddaramaiah

What should also worry the BJP is that there has been near unequivocal support for the flag and anti-Hindi imposition campaigns in the Kannada media. English television channels, some of whom have been critical of these so-called separatist tendencies, have little reach as compared to Kannada channels in the state.

The flag controversy has come as a relief of sorts for Siddaramaiah at a time when he is facing flak, rightfully so as many would agree, for his handling of the alleged scandal relating to the 'five-star treatment' given to former Tamil Nadu chief minister Sasikala in a Bengaluru jail, with the connivance of senior jail officials.

The Congress high command has reportedly not taken the state flag proposal kindly. But even if the chief minister were to withdraw the move or go slow on it, there are decisions that he has taken in the recent past that will help him flaunt his government's Kannada pride. After all, Siddaramaiah has clarified that no decision has been taken, but only a committee to look into the proposal has been constituted. This gives him an escape route should the Congress high command shows him the red card.

The government recently made it mandatory that all schools in the state, including CBSE and ICSE schools, teach Kannada – an initiative that has won some praise. Even the BJP has had to welcome the step. Siddaramaiah also announced a five percent reservation in posts in government for students who study in the Kannada medium.

Is Flag an Electoral Issue?

Karnataka will have Assembly elections in mid-2018, a crucial one for the Congress. If Siddaramaiah manages to retain power for the Congress, it will give a big boost to the party considering that Karnataka is the only big state where it has been in power.

But to expect the elections to centre around issues of language and regional pride alone would be naïve, but certainly assertion of regional and linguistic identity will be part of the narrative as far as the Congress is concerned. Coastal Karnataka, for instance, has become a communal cauldron in recent weeks.

The Congress is expected to face a tough challenge here from what is seen as communally polarising politics of the BJP. Karnataka is also facing a severe drought with a deficient monsoon. The Congress’ performance would also be influenced by how effectively the government tackles the drought and provides succour to the people.

In recent years, the BJP has successfully exploited nationalism to rally around voters. But if Siddaramaiah's gambit of pitting regional pride against it gains more traction ahead of the Assembly elections, the Congress can expect to see its chances brighten ahead of the Assembly elections.

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(The writer is a senior editor working with a Doha-based daily. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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