Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu nationalists, who had won a majority five years ago, were heavily defeated in elections for the local legislature. Voters rejected the identity ideology pursued with the anti-conversion law and the law against “love jihad.” Mons. Machado, Archbishop of Bangalore: “Now, a government that truly serves the people in a secular way.”
Bangalore () – The Congress Party has regained a majority in the local elections in Karnataka, the southern Indian state where Bangalore is located. This is a setback for the BJP, the Hindu nationalist party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which had obtained a relative majority in the previous 2018 elections, and which governed at the head of a coalition for much of the legislature.
The ballot is still taking place, but projections see the Congress Party claim more than 130 seats, well above the threshold of 113 needed for an absolute majority in the Assembly. The BJP is expected to miss 70 seats, a notable drop from the 104 it won five years ago. Rahoul Gandhi’s party thus regains local government in one of its strongholds a year before India’s crucial general elections scheduled for next year, in which Modi will seek his third consecutive term.
The result of the vote in Karnataka is also significant because it affects an Indian state where the BJP has pushed hard on the identity issue of religious divisions in recent years. Last year, the local government pushed through the harshest of anti-conversion laws, causing consternation among local Christian communities. At the same time, the head of the local government, BS Yediyurappa, had launched an anti-Islamic campaign against “love jihad”, specifically targeting religious conversions for reasons of marriage. Today’s vote also appears to be a defeat for these anti-minority identity politics: by early indications, even many Hindus have turned their backs on the BJP.
Sajan K. George, Chairman of the Bangalore-based Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told : “The results of the Karnataka elections are the people’s reaction to hate speech and misconduct by constitutional at the cost of the lives of ordinary Indian people and democratic values.With the targeted attacks on Christians by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in the last election campaign, the BJP quietly changed the political narrative of the vikas – the ‘development’ mantra – that had appealed to voters to win the 2014 national elections.”
“Modi held more than 20 rallies in Karnataka, at his election rallies the BJP leadership had said that any action against the Bajrang Dal amounts to an insult to the deity Hanuman. But in the eyes of the poor, the momentum for the politicization of religion. Instead, the Congress Party tried to maintain the narrative on local issues, such as rising prices, unemployment and corruption under the BJP government. We pray that the new government maintains constitutional guarantees and stand up for religious freedom and human rights in Karnataka”.
The Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado, told : “We were ready to accept any outcome, we respect all governments that are elected. But since the Congress won a majority, we say that this is God’s will today. We pray that you will serve the people of Karnataka correctly and govern wisely. secular”.
