Amit Shah Begins Work in Karnataka

Amit Shah, the president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on a visit to Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, starting February 19, according to a report in The Hindu. This visit is part of the party’s election campaign preparation since the state will go to polls for electing a new Assembly in May this year.

Why is Shah visiting Dakshina Kannada and Udupi ? It is these two districts that have been a hotbed of communal violence in the state since 2006. The Hindu Jagarna Vedike, Bajrang dal, and Sri Rama Sene are bodies affiliated to the Sangh Parivar that have in the past stirred communal tension and continue to spew communal hatred in the region. The report in The Hindu says, BJP and congress “appear keen on highlighting who is more communal keeping aside the development agenda”.

Amit Shah who himself belongs to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) appears to be laying the foundation for a communal campaign in order to defeat the ruling Congress in the state. That is why he starts with these sensitive districts.

Let us look at what the president of BJP is doing in the region:

• Shah is reportedly going to address a gathering of students in Vivekananda Vidyavardhaka Sangha institutions of which RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat is president. Bhat is infamous for his inflammatory speeches. He also has been a chief accused in the incidents of communal violence in the Dakshina Kannada region.

• He will also be addressing Navashakti Convention of Belthangady, Bantwal and Puttur Assembly constituencies in Bantwal. Navashakti Conventions have been planned by the BJP in 170 assembly constituencies where Parivartan rally of the BJP passed through earlier.

• Shah will be visiting Deepak Rao’s family in Surathkal. Rao, allegedly a Bajrang Dal activist, was murdered on 3 January 2018. As soon as the news of his murder broke out, Bajrang dal activists took up the issue in their style of instigating communal violence and killed Basheer a Muslim man as revenge. They also created terror in Kattipala town. Shah is reportedly visiting Rao’s family to pay his homage.

• Amit Shah is also visiting the family of Paresh Mesta in Honnavara. Paresh Mesta was murdered in Honnavara on 6 December 2018. He also was alleged to be a RSS activist and thus the murder was given a communal touch, resulting in communal tension in whole of Uttara Kannada region. Shah of course is visiting only the family of Paresh Mesta and has chosen to ignore the families that had to face the brunt of communalising Paresh’s murder.

It is clear from this publicly known itinerary of Amit Shah that the main purpose of his visit is to consolidate the Hindu fanatic ranks in the region and rouse them for further action in the upcoming election campaign. He is also sending a message across the state that the BJP stands with fanatics and those who indulge in violence against minorities.

Narendra Modi in his speech on 4 February 2018 had accused the Congress government in Karnataka to be a regime of crime. He had also mentioned the murders of the “BJP” activists. Amit Shah’s visit seems like the continuation of this speech. Some have alleged Deepak and Paresh were RSS and Bajrang Dal activists, now Modi has embraced them and declared that they were BJP activists.

The question here is not whether they were members of this or that organisations, but what is the story of them that is being circulated? Paresh Mesta has become a Hindu Martyr in no time and Deepak Rao’s murder broke down the secular fabric of the coastal Karnataka.

In his speech, PM Modi did not bother to acknowledge the increase in communal violence in the state. He did not find it necessary to comment on the agenda of his party, which according to Anant Kumar Hegde is to change the Constitution of India; and now Amit Shah is visiting a RSS leader accused of causing untold damage to Dakshina Kannada’s communal harmony, and also the families of deceased who were used by Sangh Parivar and his party to spew communal hatred in the region, ignoring the violence this act had caused.

The assembly election in Karnataka will decide the destiny of both the BJP and the Congress in the state. Karnataka is one of the 10 states in the country which is not ruled by BJP. For the BJP Karnataka is important - it is trying to make its presence felt in southern India and sees Karnataka as a possible entry point. Karnataka is the only southern state in which BJP has a notable presence with 40 MLAs and where the party was in power from 2008-2013.

Hence, BJP is set to pull out all stops to win back Karnataka. And, it is planning to destroy communal amity in the state to achieve this end.