The mandate for the Congress in Karnataka is as definitive as it could have been: an absolute majority with 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly garnering support from across regions and demographic groups. No doubt, some of the vote share accrued to it negatively as the principal party that was in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This also became clear in the erosion of support for the Janata Dal (Secular); the space for a third player shrank considerably. The BJP won less than half the number of seats the Congress did, but the party that might have suffered an irreversible slide is the JD(S), which was seen as a family syndicate devoid of any moral compass. Voters could be forgiven for not having known which way the JD(S) would lean after the election. Surely, the opportunism of individual MLAs and the JD(S) following a hung Assembly in 2018 weighed heavily on their minds. Another indecisive verdict would have been as good as defeat for the Congress. Throughout the campaign, the Congress stayed united, focused and dynamic, while BJP leaders sought to settle scores with one another and worked at cross purposes. The Congress showed maturity and composure as the BJP tried to make up for its unpopularity by raking up divisive and extraneous issues. As the ruling party, it refused to be accountable for its track record in government and underestimated the intelligence of the voters by offering them communal opiates. The Congress largely stuck to issues that could have an impact on lives and livelihoods. For very good reasons, the BJP deserved its defeat as much as the Congress deserved its victory.
The Congress and the BJP have lessons to be drawn from the Karnataka verdict. If the BJP truly wants to be a party trusted by all religious and linguistic communities, it must learn to respect them. After its failed strategy in West Bengal in 2021, and now in Karnataka, the party must see the writing on the wall. Its totalising project is harmful not only for itself but also for the nation. A violation of long-cherished and productive regional aspirations is unsettling for national integrity and progress. The attempt to undermine native dairy brand Nandini is a case in point. In a remarkable shift from the past, the Congress acknowledged that it must address questions of caste justice too, while holding on to its opposition to religious sectarianism, and expanding welfarism. The Congress needs to move beyond the tired rhetoric of the old order and frame a new paradigm that is inclusive towards the regional, religious, class and caste diversities of the country. It has made an experimental beginning in Karnataka. Between the failed experiment of the BJP and the successful one of the Congress, Karnataka voters have imparted important lessons to India’s political class.
