Throughout the 1972 Meeting elections in Karnataka, D Devaraj Urs was the president of the State Congress. The Congress cut up had taken place in Bengaluru three years earlier than and Urs was heading Congress (I) in Karnataka, headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at all-India stage. This faction with no large leaders was anticipated to lose, however Urs was assured of an enormous win. He knew one thing which most others didn’t know. He had known as a press meet to announce the names of his occasion candidates. There have been solely a handful of media individuals current. Urs learn out a couple of names, all first-timers – M Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily, N Dharam Singh, and so forth. A few of the Bengaluru-based reporters laughed and instructed Urs that with inexperienced horns like these his occasion would positively chunk the mud. A humiliated Urs angrily instructed them to attend for the election outcomes and abruptly ended the press meet with out studying out remainder of the names.
Urs was proper. Within the elections, the Devaraj Urs-led Congress swept the polls, turning the tables in Karnataka politics. It was a landmark victory in some ways. As a result of Urs’s Different Backward Courses (OBC), SC/STs and minorities mixture did wonders and ended the hegemony of higher caste – Lingayat and Vokkaligas — within the state politics. His picks specifically Kharge, Moily and Dharam Singh later grew to become large leaders, the latter two grew to become even Chief Ministers.
The 1972 Meeting elections heralded the arrival of OBCs in Karnataka politics in an enormous method. The cut up of the Congress created a possibility for them to battle the elections after securing Indira Gandhi-led Congress tickets. Since Independence in 1947 to 1972, the state politics was managed by solely two castes – Lingayat and Vokkaliga — whose mixed inhabitants is about 25%-30% of the full inhabitants.
The OBCs, with over 22%, have been completely uncared for and had little political participation. They have been compelled to meekly settle for the rule of the higher castes. The visionary Urs modified that in a single day giving political energy to them.
THE ROLE OF OBCs
Previously 51 years since that election, OBCs have been enjoying a serious position in deciding who guidelines Karnataka. No occasion can afford to disregard or upset them. By the way, Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and face of the Congress in Karnataka, is an undisputed chief of the OBCs, and he’s being hailed because the rightful heir of Urs legacy, though he’s initially from Janata Pariwar against Urs.
Urs had a foresight and he knew he might break the monopoly of higher castes by uniting all OBCs by forging a formidable alliance with Muslims, SCs/STs. He appointed a authorized professional LG Havanur to check OBCs’ socio-economic situation and submit a report. It was India’s first detailed examine of OBCs and thought of the very best report on them until date. Havanur is divine to OBCs within the state. He was even invited by Nelson Mandela of South Africa to advise him on drafting the post-apartheid Structure there. This report was adopted by two extra studies on the backward courses within the subsequent 30 years.
In line with A Ravindra, retired chief secretary to Karnataka Authorities, it’s pertinent to recall that the erstwhile princely state of Mysore was a pioneer in taking affirmative motion in favour of the backward sections of society. Over a century in the past, in 1918, then Maharaja of Mysore Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar arrange a committee to investigate into the grievances of non-Brahmins relating to insufficient illustration in state providers. The committee in its report thought-about backwardness extra on the idea of ‘caste’ than on financial standards and categorized all non-Brahmins as backward. Since Urs, Karnataka has seen 5 OBC chief ministers (together with Urs and Dharam Singh – who’re Kshatriyas, not a backward class in remainder of India).Three different chief ministers S Bangarappa, M Veerappa Moily and Siddaramaiah are really backward class.
Among the many OBCs – the Kurubas, Siddaramaiah’s caste is the only largest with about 7% of the full inhabitants. It’s a pan-Karnataka caste not like a lot of the OBCs who’re restricted to at least one or two areas. A few of the OBCs are miniscule and their inhabitants gained’t cross even a lakh.
AFTER EMERGENCY
After the Emergency of 1975, the Congress was worn out throughout India, besides Karnataka and neighbouring AP, solely as a result of the OBCs, minorities and SC/STs firmly stood by them towards the higher castes.
In 1983, the Congress misplaced energy for the primary time in Karnataka. A hotchpotch alliance led by Janata Social gathering got here to energy, creating historical past. H D Deve Gowda had led the Janata Social gathering primarily comprising Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The Congress misplaced primarily as a result of then undisputed chief of OBCs S Bangarappa had walked out of the Congress to guide the newly shaped Karnataka Kranti Ranga. It cut up the OBC votes. The OBCs returned to the Congress in 1989, which the occasion swept by successful 181 seats within the 224-member home. The grateful Congress rewarded them with two chief ministers (Bangarappa and Moily throughout that time period).
Within the mid-2000s Siddaramaiah emerged because the tallest OBC chief within the state after he was thrown out of the JDS by Gowda. Siddaramaiah, who additionally hails from Mysore like Urs, copied his mannequin and tried to deliver OBCs, Muslims, SC/STs beneath one umbrella known as AHINDA. That experiment clicked within the 2013 elections, and he grew to become the Chief Minister. The opposite issue that helped him was B S Yediyurappa’s KJP, which took 10% of the votes, principally Lingayat, dealing a physique blow to the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) which he had left briefly.
RISE OF BJP
With the emergence of the BJP previously 15 years, OBC votes have been divided within the state. The BJP has captured OBCs comparable to Billavas, Mogaveeras, Vishwakarmas, Kolis and others who have been the hardcore Congress voters earlier. The BJP is desperately making an attempt to shake off its Lingayat occasion picture by wooing and selling OBCs. The “Hindutva” card has additionally cut up OBCs within the center, serving to the BJP. The third-party JDS hardly has any OBC help as a result of it is called a Vokkaliga occasion.
Unusually, previously 25 years, Lingayats and Vokkaligas have additionally been included to the OBC listing, primarily due to their financial standing. Muslims, Digambar Jains, Christians and Buddhists have additionally been included, moreover these two dominant castes. However, within the elections, these castes and religions vote otherwise, not as OBCs. After they search reservation in jobs and different advantages from the Authorities, they use the OBC card. This peculiar state of affairs has made examine of Karnataka’s caste a posh job. The Panchamasali Lingayats’ demand for a higher and higher pie within the reservation beneath the OBC quota has already set the caste politics on hearth, triggering panic within the BJP.
In line with SM Jamadar, a retired IAS officer and a frontrunner of the separate Lingayat faith motion, despite the fact that the precise Lingayat inhabitants is over 16% of the state’s whole inhabitants, on paper it has dropped to alarming 9% as a result of many sub castes among the many Lingayats have talked about their authentic castes within the census to avail reservation advantages.
As Lingayats and Vokkaligas are extremely unlikely to vote collectively for one occasion, the OBCs maintain the important thing to energy in Bengaluru. If the BJP manages to retain its OBC votes, it will possibly halt the march of the Congress. If it fails, with minorities, SCs/STs (a serious chunk, not all), the Congress can pose an enormous risk to BJP.
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