An impressive performance by the Congress in winning over half of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and support by the community in general constituencies across the State is being seen through the perspective of various Dalit factions coming together for the first time in over three decades.
Though elevation of Mallikarjuna Kharge as the Congress president is being speculated in the political narrative as one of the reasons for consolidation of Dalit votes, there have been several months of background efforts in bringing together the factions to work closely, which started in July last year.
Focused campaign
“We went with a specific agenda to convince the Dalit voters not to vote for the BJP or the Janata Dal (Secular). The community was feeling insecure after several cultural and legal challenges that were thrown at by the BJP government,” said Indudhar Honnapura, coordinator of a 14-member committee called the Dalitha Sangharasha Samithigala Aikya Horata Chalana Samiti. He said: “As many as 132 constituencies, including 51 reserved constituencies, were identified and our efforts were focussed on these constituencies. Barring eight constituencies, the Congress has won in 124 that we worked on.”
In reserved seats
Of the 36 seats reserved for the SCs in Karnataka, the Congress returned with 21 seats, a gain of nine seats since the 2018 elections. On the other hand, the BJP that had 16 seats is now down to 12 seats. The JD(S) that had won six seats in 2018 ended up with three seats. In 15 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes, the BJP drew a blank with the Congress and the JD(S) winning 14 seats and one seat, respectively.
The Dalit factions and splinter groups have been divided over personal issues, and ideological differences after the rise of the BSP in the recent decades. The community is seen as being divided in its political support to the Congress and the BJP from Dalit right group (Holeyas) and Dalit left groups (Madigas), respectively.
The Congress’s performance comes despite efforts by the BJP government to increase reservation for SCs and STs and announcing internal reservation to woo these communities.
The effort to bring the factions together started with the ‘Dalithara Samskruthika Prathirodha’ on December 6, 2022. For the first time since 1992, the rally brought over 10 Dalit factions and many other splinter groups in Bengaluru to lay ground for the Dalit voters to come together.
“The rally attracted more than expected crowd. We followed it up with house-to-house visits across the State,” he said. “The coming together of various factions brought positive undercurrents in the community. The development made them think that their Constitutionally-provided rights and facilities are being threatened.”
Activists from the panchayat level were brought in for workshops and they were trained to work for elections, besides creating awareness among the voters.
Long-drawn effort
Mavalli Shankar, one of the leaders behind the unity effort, said that circumstances brought the factions together to defeat communal forces and protect Constitution and democracy. “It was a more than six months effort. We were discussing the unity factor for more than two years. The December 6 rally was to register cultural resistance.”
Several other small voluntary groups and associations were also involved in similar efforts, including some former government officials.
