On Sunday, when 51-year-old Pramod Muthalik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of top leaders of the party’s Karnataka unit, the move sparked a storm of criticism in the media and on social networking sites. Within hours, the BJP’s leadership in Delhi distanced itself from the decision and refused to accept Muthalik as a member. But the five hours that Muthalik spent as a BJP member raise an important question: why was he inducted into the party in the first place?
Muthalik is one of the most notorious characters in Karnataka politics. He leads a group called Sri Rama Sene, which hit the headlines in 2009 when its members attacked young women in a pub in Mangalore. They dragged the women out of the establishment and, in full public glare, assaulted and molested the women. Despite criminal cases filed against him and a public outcry, Muthalik claimed the attack was his attempt at “cultural policing” and he continued to encourage his members to attack couples across the state on Valentine’s Day.
These incidents came as a huge embarrassment to the BJP, which in 2008 had won power in Karnataka, the first time the party had captured a southern state. There was enormous public outrage and the party was accused of giving a free hand to groups like the Sri Ram Sene. As a result of public pressure, the state government filed over 45 cases against Muthalik in 11 districts across Karnataka.
Despite this show of disapproval, many observers point out that Muthalik was actually the creation of the Sangh Parivar. He started with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1975 and in 2004 became South India Convener of the Bajrang Dal, which is one of most militant groups within the Sangh. “Muthalik led several violent protests but he had association with criminal elements and his indiscipline led to the RSS sacking him in 2005,” Lehar Singh, a former BJP legislator and RSS old-timer, told Scroll.in. Muthalik started the Sri Ram Sene in 2006 after a brief and unsuccessful stint with the Shiv Sena’s Karnataka unit.
In many ways, fringe elements like Muthalik were used by the BJP in its journey to capture power in Karnataka. For instance, in 1992, after the impact of the Ayodhya movement, in Hubli in northern Karnataka, the BJP started what was known as the Idgah Maidan agitation. The town has a sizeable Muslim population and the BJP wanted to hoist the national flag at a ground reserved for Id prayers. Some Muslim groups objected, which resulted in communal clashes. The issue helped to polarise voters on religious lines. People like Pramod Muthalik led the BJP’s charge at the local level during those communal clashes.
“Once the party came to power, these elements had only nuisance value,” said Lehar Singh. This is the case in many states in which the BJP is in power, including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. The militant Hindutva elements were seen as troublemakers and their actions challenged the government’s ability to maintain law and order. With the emphasis on the performance of chief ministers, the extreme elements were discarded.
In Karnataka, the induction of Pramod Muthalik at this juncture could harm the party’s electoral prospects. His entry could even re-ignite questions over BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s communal image and take the focus away from the party’s attempt to project its accomplishments in the states in which it is in power, said a senior BJP strategist, who requested anonymity. Besides, he added, “The incident in Mangalore also evokes a fierce anti-women feeling and that could be dangerous.”
It’s clear why the party high command was in such a hurry to distance itself from the decision to induct Muthalik. But why was he brought in in the first place?
“It was BJP State President Prahlad Joshi’s decision to bring him in,” said Lehar Singh. Joshi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Dharwad seat, which includes the town of Hubli, and Muthalik’s threat to contest as an independent candidate seems to have worried him. “This is because Joshi is a Brahmin and so is Muthalik,” said Vijay Vaidya, a Hubli businessman in close touch with BJP leaders. “A split in the Brahmin vote could prove costly.”
BJP officials add that Joshi took the consent of party General Secretary HN Ananth Kumar on the decision to induct Muthalik but the rest of the top leadership was not kept in the loop. It’s clear that it is Joshi who needed Muthalik the most. The Dharwad constituency has a sizeable population from the Lingayat sect, which forms a numerical majority in Karnataka. The BJP’s former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa had consolidated the party’s base amongst the Lingayats but he is known to have a rivalry with Joshi.
In 2011, when Yeddyurappa was forced to resign as chief minister following corruption allegations, Joshi sided with the anti-Yeddyurappa camp. Yeddyurappa walked out of the party, resulting in a defeat for the BJP in the assembly polls in 2013. It is believed that Modi ensured Yeddyurappa’s return to the party in November 2013. Despite serious corruption allegations, Yeddyurappa was taken back by a party running on an anti-corruption plank. This was seen as admission that the BJP cannot win in Karnataka without Yeddyurappa.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, Joshi is said to be worried that Yeddyurappa loyalists will sabotage his chances among the Lingayats. Added to this, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA and strong Lingayat leader Vinay Kulkarni against Joshi. In this situation, Muthalik contesting as an independent could have weakened Joshi’s prospects.
In many ways, Muthalik’s brief stint in the BJP it seems to be a classic case of a state president willing to risk the party’s larger interests to boost his own chances in an election.
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Muthalik is one of the most notorious characters in Karnataka politics. He leads a group called Sri Rama Sene, which hit the headlines in 2009 when its members attacked young women in a pub in Mangalore. They dragged the women out of the establishment and, in full public glare, assaulted and molested the women. Despite criminal cases filed against him and a public outcry, Muthalik claimed the attack was his attempt at “cultural policing” and he continued to encourage his members to attack couples across the state on Valentine’s Day.
These incidents came as a huge embarrassment to the BJP, which in 2008 had won power in Karnataka, the first time the party had captured a southern state. There was enormous public outrage and the party was accused of giving a free hand to groups like the Sri Ram Sene. As a result of public pressure, the state government filed over 45 cases against Muthalik in 11 districts across Karnataka.
Despite this show of disapproval, many observers point out that Muthalik was actually the creation of the Sangh Parivar. He started with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1975 and in 2004 became South India Convener of the Bajrang Dal, which is one of most militant groups within the Sangh. “Muthalik led several violent protests but he had association with criminal elements and his indiscipline led to the RSS sacking him in 2005,” Lehar Singh, a former BJP legislator and RSS old-timer, told Scroll.in. Muthalik started the Sri Ram Sene in 2006 after a brief and unsuccessful stint with the Shiv Sena’s Karnataka unit.
In many ways, fringe elements like Muthalik were used by the BJP in its journey to capture power in Karnataka. For instance, in 1992, after the impact of the Ayodhya movement, in Hubli in northern Karnataka, the BJP started what was known as the Idgah Maidan agitation. The town has a sizeable Muslim population and the BJP wanted to hoist the national flag at a ground reserved for Id prayers. Some Muslim groups objected, which resulted in communal clashes. The issue helped to polarise voters on religious lines. People like Pramod Muthalik led the BJP’s charge at the local level during those communal clashes.
“Once the party came to power, these elements had only nuisance value,” said Lehar Singh. This is the case in many states in which the BJP is in power, including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. The militant Hindutva elements were seen as troublemakers and their actions challenged the government’s ability to maintain law and order. With the emphasis on the performance of chief ministers, the extreme elements were discarded.
In Karnataka, the induction of Pramod Muthalik at this juncture could harm the party’s electoral prospects. His entry could even re-ignite questions over BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s communal image and take the focus away from the party’s attempt to project its accomplishments in the states in which it is in power, said a senior BJP strategist, who requested anonymity. Besides, he added, “The incident in Mangalore also evokes a fierce anti-women feeling and that could be dangerous.”
It’s clear why the party high command was in such a hurry to distance itself from the decision to induct Muthalik. But why was he brought in in the first place?
“It was BJP State President Prahlad Joshi’s decision to bring him in,” said Lehar Singh. Joshi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Dharwad seat, which includes the town of Hubli, and Muthalik’s threat to contest as an independent candidate seems to have worried him. “This is because Joshi is a Brahmin and so is Muthalik,” said Vijay Vaidya, a Hubli businessman in close touch with BJP leaders. “A split in the Brahmin vote could prove costly.”
BJP officials add that Joshi took the consent of party General Secretary HN Ananth Kumar on the decision to induct Muthalik but the rest of the top leadership was not kept in the loop. It’s clear that it is Joshi who needed Muthalik the most. The Dharwad constituency has a sizeable population from the Lingayat sect, which forms a numerical majority in Karnataka. The BJP’s former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa had consolidated the party’s base amongst the Lingayats but he is known to have a rivalry with Joshi.
In 2011, when Yeddyurappa was forced to resign as chief minister following corruption allegations, Joshi sided with the anti-Yeddyurappa camp. Yeddyurappa walked out of the party, resulting in a defeat for the BJP in the assembly polls in 2013. It is believed that Modi ensured Yeddyurappa’s return to the party in November 2013. Despite serious corruption allegations, Yeddyurappa was taken back by a party running on an anti-corruption plank. This was seen as admission that the BJP cannot win in Karnataka without Yeddyurappa.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, Joshi is said to be worried that Yeddyurappa loyalists will sabotage his chances among the Lingayats. Added to this, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA and strong Lingayat leader Vinay Kulkarni against Joshi. In this situation, Muthalik contesting as an independent could have weakened Joshi’s prospects.
In many ways, Muthalik’s brief stint in the BJP it seems to be a classic case of a state president willing to risk the party’s larger interests to boost his own chances in an election.