The Congress’ victory in the 2023 Assembly election in Karnataka was a difficult pill for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to swallow, especially since the grand old party had secured its biggest vote share in 34 years. Then the Congress decided to implement its five guarantees: free bus rides for women, ₹2,000 a month to each woman-headed household, free electricity up to 200 units, 10 kg of rice, and guarantees for the young and unemployed. But above all, the Siddaramaiah government has wrested control of the police. It has lost no opportunity to remind the police to return to the impartiality to which they are committed and literally shed their orange tinge (in two police stations, Kaup and Vijayapura, the police donned saffron for Vijayadashami). In short, the government has honoured its commitment to the Constitution both by offering welfare schemes and by protecting all citizens equally.
The previous ‘double engine’ government (2019-23) had introduced, with extraordinary speed and little discussion, the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2021; the Karnataka Religious Structures (Protection) Act, 2021; and the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022. These laws had emboldened the majority and induced fear among all the minorities. They had also bred a whole layer of intermediaries (apart from the police) who decided which parts of the cattle trade would be allowed. The regime also honoured as ‘martyrs’ those who had dubious pasts, such as Harsha of Shivamogga.
So it was with some relief that the citizens returned to things that mattered after May 2023: jobs, alleviation of poverty and price rise, freedom of speech, the rule of law, and dealing with the prospect of drought. The fulfilled guarantees drove public discourse in a different direction.
