One-upmanship of the bizarre kind in Karnataka

Hans India

18 hours ago

When it comes to scoring political brownie points, the Congress has often demonstrated that it can shock and disrupt the best-laid plans of its rivals, especially of the saffron kind. It is a classic action-reaction scenario, enacted untiringly, episode after episode, incident after incident in Karnataka, where the communal brand of politics has a certain presence and acceptance, the most noticed in entire south India. Quite often personal dislike for a certain rival or a certain head of administration, who had ruled the State or a vital part of it, can trigger conveniently spun theories and opinions.
In this case, it is the legacy of eternally-in-the news Tipu Sultan, who is a Muslim ruler of the acceptable kind for the secular and GOP supporters, who automatically becomes a hated figure for the opposition, who have enough to justify their pique. Historians have debated for decades on his rule and what came of it for the people at large but what set off a furious set of opinions this time around was what the Minister for Social Welfare, H C Mahadevappa has said.
In a recent remark, he eulogised Tipu Sultan for his visionary agricultural water supply infrastructure in the State. He even said the foundation stone for the Kannambadi Dam, now submerged under the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir, still stands with a Persian inscription, circa 1794. Naturally, the BJP and its saffron front outfits saw red. They obviously protested downplaying of the KRS reservoir built by the Mysore ruler, Maharaja Krishnaswamy Wodeyar IV in early 20th century. The Minister was flayed for 'historical distortion' and misleading the public with his statements.
The 'tyrannical' rule of Tipu with his destruction of temples and forced conversions was once again brought out into public domain by the rival party supporters, as expected. Till the time of going to press, the Congress leader has not taken any effort to mollify the protestors. In Bengaluru, the biggest pow-wow has been reserved for a credit-hogging exercise between the state government and the Centre over the inauguration of the Namma Metro Yellow Line service, scheduled for Sunday. Playing the statesman, rather unconvincingly, the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar announced that this transport service has a primary goal of serving the public and downplayed the need to indulge in credit-hogging exercises.
With the ever-ready spotlight-centred Prime Minister Narendra Modi landing in the state capital to inaugurate the service along with a few other engagements, it looks like the local politicians are keen on grabbing their share of the pie before Modi arrives and sweeps the public attention away from all of them. With the quality of urban transportation, civic life and social environment degenerating in the Garden City, it is already fast-forwarding its journey to the point of no return in all these sectors.
Linguistic politics, communal debates and the rising wave of religious intolerance in various pockets of Karnataka have all kept the citizens worried about how it will end and whether there is a hopeful turn for them in the future. Whoever wishes to project themselves as the saviours must surely be mindful about how the people feel about them and their governance models. Ignoring emerging signals could cost them dearly and even lead to their downfall.