On August 15, 1994, BJP leader Uma Bharti led a group of people in an attempt to hoist the tricolor at the Idgah Maidan in Hubli, defying the prohibitory orders (the matter of ownership of the Maidan was subjudice). Ten people died in the resulting violence and the police firing that followed. In the midst of this group were Pralhad Joshi, BS Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, Ananth Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and many others who went on to become BJPs stalwarts in Karnataka.
The Maidan was ‘licensed’ to Anjuman-e-Islam, a minority educational institution, in 1921 for 999 years to offer mass prayers twice a year. The controversy erupted when Anjuman sought permission to build a commercial complex in the Maidan, which was challenged by a group of citizens in court. Even earlier to this, when Murali Manohar Joshi emphatically declared that he would hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Republic Day in 1992, the Rashtradhwaja Gowrava Samrakshana Samiti decided to hold flag hoisting ceremony in Idgah Maidan. In an attempt to quell the issue, the then Deve Gowda government had convinced the Anjuman-e-Islam to raise the national flag. But the Sangh Parivar, hungry for power in the state, raked up the issue again in 1994.
Although many journalists, thinkers and writers thought otherwise at that time, the Idgah Maidan agitation helped the BJP gain political ground in the state and the party has been winning in the Dharwad constituency since 1996. In a rare moment of justice, Uma Bharti was served a non-bailable arrest warrant in 2004 forcing her to resign as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. But the charges against her were mysteriously dropped by the Karnataka government. The final victory for the BJP in the Maidan issue came in 2010 when the SC ruled that the Maidan was the exclusive property of the HDMC (Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation).
Mallikarjun Mansur Memorial
After a long journey in an ordinary bus, I was excited to be riding the Volvo BRTS from Hubli to Dharwad. With two dedicated lanes, the service was impressive and I couldn’t resist expressing my delight to a fellow passenger. He smirks and tells me sarcastically that when the dedicated lanes fill up with water in the monsoon, it is much more fun.
The next day, I learnt from a local shop owner that the BRTS has not been much of a success. Is this an issue that will be discussed by the candidates in the election rallies, I ask. He laughs out loud and says, “Sir, when surgical strike and Pakistan are the issues, who will talk about this.” He explains that people are taken by the larger than life image of Prime Minister Modi.
I ask what he thinks of the candidates in the fray. He says everyone knows Pralhad Joshi (BJP) has not done much work, and that Vinay Kulkarni (Congress) is a very approachable person. But the recent collapse of a commercial building belonging to a firm where Vinay Kulkarni’s father-in-law is listed as a partner has dented his reputation. On the way to the Someshwara temple, Iqbal, an auto driver, tells me that the BJP is looking to divide the country based on religion and hence no one should vote for them.
On the way back, I meet a young man on election duty in a crowded Tata Magic – a common mode of transport in Dharwad – who says it is a misnomer that Joshi has not done any work and lists out several road works. He says people should understand that not everything is in the MP’s power. He also adds that Kulkarni has a great chance as he is a mass leader and has helped many people. Watching us discuss politics are a group of daily wage workers who come to Dharwad every day in search of work. They don’t think either of the politicians will make much of a difference to their lives.
One of the projects listed as an achievement on Joshi’s website is the sanction of around Rs 3 crore for a park in front of Bendre Bhavan, a museum dedicated to the great Kannada poet DR Bendre in the quiet neighborhood of Sadhana Kere. An elderly gentleman with a house very close to Bendre Bhavan tells me that the chances of BJP winning are high as they have strengthened their cadre in the region over the last 3 terms.
Bendre Bhavan
Despite the short time period, there is not much campaigning to be seen. A senior journalist from a Kannada daily tells me over a hot cup of tea that with the advent of social media, the political parties have adapted new publicity strategies which mostly include door-to-door campaigns executed by party workers, and candidate interactions with the locals in small gatherings. He claims that this election season has been unusually quiet everywhere in the state.
The Dharwad constituency was formed in 2008 by merging Dharwad South and Dharwad North as part of the delimitation exercise. The constituency has 16,87,967 electors and includes Shiggaon, a taluk in the adjacent Haveri district. In the ensuing elections, the incumbent Pralhad Joshi of the BJP and Congress leader and ex-state cabinet minister Vinay Kulkarni are going head to head for the second time. In 2014, Joshi had defeated Kulkarni by a margin of more than one lakh votes to get elected for the third time. In what is termed as an embarrassment, Kulkarni lost the 2018 Assembly elections too. This loss is attributed to Kulkarni’s active role in the Lingayat movement which was rejected by the electorate.
While Joshi is a seen as a staunch RSS man, Kulkarni, although people-friendly, is known to be temperamental – a video of him assaulting a doctor alleging negligence in the case of a dengue patient had gone viral in 2013. There were also rumors and media reports of his involvement in the Yogesh Goud (Zilla Parishad member) murder case. The senior journalist predicts that if the Lingayats have forgiven Kulkarni’s involvement in the movement, he will easily defeat Joshi this time. But the buttermilk vendor helping quench the thirst of hundreds of people at a traffic signal disagrees.
The vendor tells me that after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, a lot of foreign investment has come into the country. When I ask if he can provide details about this, he confidently says that the PM would soon announce the details on TV. I probe further and ask him if he believes that any of these investments will make his life better. “No sir, not at all. But it will certainly make our country famous,” he answers. He asks people to be patient and give Modi another term at the helm. In the busy markets of Subhash Road and Line Bazaar, the few businessmen I speak to express full faith in PM Modi’s rule. Although the popular opinion is that the BJP might win again, all of them seem to have a soft corner for Vinay Kulkarni.
Building housing Kannada publisher Manohar Granthamala
Dharwad, known as the cultural capital of the south, has been the home of many great musicians – Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Vidushi Gangubai Hangal and others, and writers such as Girish Karnad, DR Bendre, VK Gokak, GB Joshi, etc. Although still a peaceful place, Dharwad seems to be yearning to become a more commercial city. Walking through the city and visiting institutions such as Karnataka College, Basel Mission School and College, Mallikarjun Mansur Memorial, Bendre Bhavan and Manohar Granthamala (renowned Kannada publishers), I thought to myself: It probably is the right time to restart Bendre’s Geleyara Gumpu or ‘Group of Friends’ (a peer group with an interest in cultural and literary studies) to help revive the cultural scene of Dharwad.
Basav Biradar is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker based in Bengaluru.
Views expressed are the author’s own.
All photos courtesy of Basav Biradar.