Bigger Muslim Support To The Congress In Karnataka Poll Is A Positive Signal For 2024

By Sushil Kutty

Nine Muslims grace the treasury benches in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, all of them Congress MLAs. En bloc Muslim voting in the just-concluded 2023 Karnataka assembly elections was one of the reasons why the Congress returned to power. Muslims comprise nearly 13% of the Karnataka electorate and this percentage is bound to increase as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had promised during the run-up to the elections to repeal the state’s anti-conversion law.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar have also asked Karnataka Police officers of IG rank and above to put a halt to “saffronisation” of the police force or else… All of a sudden, Muslims of the southern states are upbeat. Secular parties now run the governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka with the Karnataka shift especially favourable in changing the fortunes of Muslims.

An increase in Muslim population in these states cannot be ruled out despite, and in spite of, films like ‘The Kerala Story’. Several Malayalam films that have hit the screens after ‘The Kerala Story’ revolve around happy events in the Muslim community, like a Muslim marriage, for instance, highlighting the freedom of choice enjoyed by Muslim girls in picking their life-partners.

The Congress victory in the Karnataka assembly elections is being seen as a win-win situation for the Muslim community. For the first time in nine years, the community has something definite and positive to celebrate and counter the Modi narrative with. The general feeling among Muslims is that the BJP will never rise from the ashes and general elections 2024 will be a BJP wipeout south of the Vindhyas because of Muslim consolidation.

Especially because the Muslims have decided on the Congress as the “beneficiary”, largely due to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and his now stock phrase “Mohabbat ki Dukkaan”, which was born out of the BJY and has reached the far shores of the United States from where the 52-year-old Gandhi is giving sleepless nights to the BJP IT Cell.

Rahul Gandhi’s daily barbs targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi; ridiculing the PM’s actions and utterances, especially those that marked the inauguration of India’s New Parliament, were the exact feelings in the Muslim community. That Rahul Gandhi isn’t coy about making bold anti-majoritarian statements has further consolidated Muslim votes behind the Congress.

And now, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress hope for 2024, is also a Muslim hope for 2024. Rahul Gandhi in the United States spoke of the Indian Union Muslim League and said it is secular and should not be confused with the Muslim League that asked for Pakistan. “(Indian Union) Muslim League is a completely secular party. There is nothing non-secular about Muslim League. I think the person (who sent the question) has not studied the Muslim League,” Rahul Gandhi said.

For the western media, Rahul Gandhi is fresh where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is stale, still not measuring up to exacting standards set by the global media. US President Joe Biden might want Prime Minister Modi’s “autograph”, and Modi might be Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese “Boss”, but to the US media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no patch on disqualified MP Rahul Gandhi.

In fact, the western media finds Rahul Gandhi more qualified than the “Islamophobic” Prime Minister. The United States media does not know “Pasmanda” from “Bohra” and vice versa to be bothered about clearing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image of ‘Divider-in-Chief’. Unlike in the so-called ‘Godi Media’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image correction exercise continues to escape western media appreciation.

Rahul Gandhi has not held back his thoughts on a variety of issues concerning the electoral fortunes of both the Congress and the BJP. Issues such as India’s China policy, India’s economy and opposition unity. And the Gandhi scion did not baulk at taking the battle home to Modi’s personality. Rahul’s “If you sat Modiji down next to God” comparison was straight from the hip, unerring in finding the intended mark.

The general talk is there are 200 parliamentary constituencies where Muslim votes have a decisive say. The fissures in the Opposition ensured that the decisive say never came into play, except in places like Kerala, West Bengal and pockets of Bihar.

It was only in Karnataka 2023 that a departure from the norm was witnessed.  And that is not because of Opposition unity and arrangement, but because Muslims as a vote-bank/electorate/community decided to take things in their own hands. It was not that the Janata Dal (S) was less Muslim-friendly, it was just that the Muslims arrived at the conclusion that Congress held a greater promise to win 2024. (IPA Service)

The post Bigger Muslim Support To The Congress In Karnataka Poll Is A Positive Signal For 2024 first appeared on IPA Newspack.