INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Anekal - largely undistinguished and of no note to outsiders but known locally for its history of violence against Christians and its
oppression of Dalits, who form nearly 30 percent of the population, but are divided between the "right hand touchables" or Chalavadis, who
are traditionally Congress supporters, while the Madigas or the "Left Hand untouchables" have been associated with the BJP for the last
decade.What has united them - and nearly 100 other sub-castes of Dalits - is last month's Supreme Court verdict on what is referred to as
Judges say their decision did not dilute the law, but ensures that its provisions do not violate individual rights - so, for example,
arrests can no longer be made as soon as a Dalit files a police complaint of discrimination."Dalits are seeing this as an injustice, which
had the tacit approval of the BJP government at the Centre", said M Prakash, a school teacher in Anekal who is an activist of a Dalit rights
a powerful instrument in fighting caste humiliation and is as important for them as reservation as a tool of empowerment and upward mobility
The fear that these rights, safeguarded by the constitution, are under threat is fast gaining currency on the ground despite Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's Dalit outreach which includes frequent ceremonies and monuments commemorating Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar, ensuring the
election of Dalit politician Ram Nath Kovind as President of the country, and ordering MPs to spend nights in Dalit homes in their
constituencies.Dalits, according to a leaked census which was conducted by the incumbent Congress government but never formally shared, form
19% percent of Karnataka's population
They influence the results of nearly 60 of the 224 seats that will be decided when the state votes on May 12.A countrywide bandh or protest
on April 2 saw gigantic participation and left nine people dead
The centre then asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its verdict; judges refused to suspend the controversial ruling, but have agreed to
nearly a dozen livesFour Dalit MPs from the BJP have insinuated that its response was neither strong nor fast enough, while also massaging
the point that in appealing against the Supreme Court's verdict, their party acted counter-intuitively and not without some reluctance.This
is also the impression in Anekal, where Dalits live in separate colonies and are discouraged from entering temples in areas dominated by
"The order has been welcomed by the upper castes who form the BJP's core constituency
It will help the party to further consolidate their vote before the elections," alleged R Shankar, a local Dalit activist.The BJP has for
decades been the homestead of upper caste Hindus; its opulent victory in the last general election was facilitated by Amit Shah, the party
chief, managing to weave together traditional supporters with an assortment of lower and backward castes including Dalits in states like
Karnataka, the BJP has been the preference of Lingayats and other upper castes; even in 2014, when the triumphant 'Modi wave' fanned across
India, the Dalits remained unpersuaded
Of Karnataka's 28 parliamentary seats, four are reserved for Dalit candidates; the BJP won just one of those.The PM has tried to persuade
Dalits, who together with tribals form a quarter of the country's population, that Hindutva ideology is not hostile to their progress, but
in 2016, nearly 41,000 cases of atrocities against Dalits were registered across India
60% of those cases were from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, all states ruled by the BJP
"In Karnataka, crimes against Dalits have also shown an increase in the five years of Congress rule, so they cannot claim the moral high
ground," former BJP chief minister Jagadish Shettar told TheIndianSubcontinent.But if the Dalits in the state do desert the BJP completely,
the buck will have to stop with his colleague, Anant Kumar Hegde, the MP from Uttara Kannada constituency
At a public function in December , Mr Hegde, a union minister, said "The Constitution needs to be changed from time to time and we have come
for that", which was seen as a remark on doing away with reservation or guaranteed government jobs and college places for scheduled castes
To make matters worse, Mr Hegde, a Brahmin, then referred to the protests staged by a group of Dalits against his statement as "the barking
less enthusiastic about her tie up with JDS now than she was a month agoThen, a fortnight ago, a meeting between Amit Shah and a group of
Dalit leaders in Mysuru was marred by protests against the BJP bosses for failing to act against the minister
"The PM says that 'No government has given respect to Babasaheb the way our government has.' If this is true, then why doesn't he sack Mr
Hegde This can only mean that privately, the BJP's and its minister's views are the same," insists a Dalit activist who was one of the
protestors at Amit Shah's meeting
"Since December, we have been warning our people to be vigilant, because even the poorest Dalit knows that his right to reservation is
enshrined in the constitution and anyone who wants to rewrite it wants to snatch this right away from us." The derision that Amit Shah
confronted was in Mysuru, the heart of South Karnataka, where the BJP won no seat at all in the last state election
It is crucial for the party to build support here.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress belongs to a shepherd community
He is backed by a cohort of Dalits, other backward castes, and minorities
He believes that crucial schemes that he introduced including give free grains to the poorest families, free milk for students up till Class
10, and interest-free loans for farmers have broadened his support to include economically backward sections of the upper caste Lingayats
Siddaramaiah will have to work hard to keep the fragmented Dalit vote togetherThe BJP is hoping that the Dalit vote in Karnataka will be
split by the big play made by Mayawati, the Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh, who has partnered with Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (S) in an
arrangement which allows her own party to compete for 20 seats, though she did not win any in the last state election in 2013.But her
workers say that her collaboration with Deve Gowda, seen as close to the BJP, lacks conviction
"She has not given us any clear-cut order to vote for Deve Gowda's candidates," claimed a BSP worker in Anekal
"Besides, JD(S) is a feudal party, supported by the dominant Vokkaliga caste which has always victimised Dalits."As for the Congress, if it
wants to win the Scheduled Caste vote in Karnataka, it will have to do more than ride the wave of Dalit anger erupting across the country
and consolidate a significant section of the many sub-castes
Though the "left hand Dalits" are numerically stronger, the majority of the Congress leadership in the state including Mallikarjun Kharge
and G Parameshwara, President of the Karnataka Congress, come from the "right hand Dalits" who have long been accused of helping their
sub-caste to corner the larger share of government benefits.Tempering that sentiment is no less a challenge than what the BJP is
