A banner calling for ‘Hindu Rashtra’, featuring the Hindutva icon VD Savarkar and freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose, has been given police protection in Karnataka’s Udupi district. The banner has two statements in Kannada, “Jai Hindu Rashtra” on one side and the phrase “Freedom was not alms given by the British for non-violence” on the other side. This overtly communal messaging around the freedom struggle appears to be part of a propaganda blitz launched by the BJP state government to push an alternate, pro-RSS narrative of India's formative years. These decisions have come under severe criticism from the Opposition and civil society but the Bommai government has been vehemently defending them.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has the position in the government but still lacks any real power, believe many in Karnataka BJP. And with elections just a few months away, he needs to be seen as an assertive leader, or this might be his last term as the CM. So after allowing communal forces to run amok in the state, even converting many of their demands into state policy, Bommai now hopes to win the RSS support. “The BJP high command has clearly said that there will be no one leader projected as the CM face in the state and there will be collective leadership," a former BJP MLA says, "and this has given hope to many senior leaders who even orchestrated protests by party cadres against Bommai. So he now needs to try harder to get the RSS on his side."
The first shocker came when the photo of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was excluded from state-government sponsored Independence Day advertisements. There was widespread outrage, but the BJP and the government has stood by its decision and said that the omission was intentional as ‘Nehru was responsible for the partition’. A day before that, in Shivamogga, a row had begun over display of RSS ideologue Vinayak Savarkar’s picture as part of a photo exhibition of freedom fighters at the City Centre mall as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. Four persons belonging to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) who had opposed this and staged a protest were arrested for charges of obstructing officials of the city corporation from discharging their duties.
On Tuesday, Savarkar’s photo appeared in a flex at the Majestic Metro station in Bengaluru. In Tumakuru again Savarkar’s poster displayed as part of the Independence Day celebrations led to ruckus. And in Udupi, a banner with Savarkar’s picture with the slogan of “Jai Hindu Rashtra '' has been given police protection and the district administrator has refused to remove it despite several objections. The Congress has threatened to stage a protest on Wednesday if the poster is not removed.
These events, far from being a cause for concern, have bolstered CM Bommai’s all-out efforts to please the BJP high command and the RSS. “The Chief Minister is desperate to win over the RSS and be accepted by it. The ultra nationalist playbook along with pandering to the RSS ideology is his latest strategy in that direction,” says a BJP source.
Bommai joined the BJP in 2008 and was in the Janata Dal before that. His political career, unlike many other BJP leaders, did not begin with the RSS. But not wanting to miss an opportunity to reiterate his loyalty to the Sangh and its ideology, Bommai said, "Someone said, Bommai has become an RSS slave. I want to say that I bow down my head to its (RSS) ideals and principles and that patriotism. I'm committed to building the country on those ideals and principles and I'm proud of it,"
Many old-time BJP leaders say this attempt at ‘headline management’ seems like a forced act on Bommai’s part and might not have the desired effect on the party leadership or the RSS.