Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta 
Haveri/Davangere (Karnataka): At the main square of Shiggaon, a group of men were engaged in heated political banter. Rafique had already decided his vote. “I will vote for the Congress, although I do not like its candidate,” he said, throwing caution to the wind.
Shiggaon in north Karnataka’s Haveri district is incumbent chief minister B.S. Bommai’s constituency. He has been elected the legislator from the seat thrice since 2008, narrowly edging past Congress veteran Sayed Azeempeer Khadri in the last three elections. Rafique’s vote has always been for the Congress, as he felt that the Bharatiya Janata Party alienated Muslims from its development agenda.
“Look, when we are worried about the poor drinking water facilities in Shiggaon, the prime minister is busy defending Bajrang Dal that everyone knows is a Muslim-hating organisation,” Rafique said.
Basavaraj J., Rafique’s friend who had accompanied him to the tea stall, intervened immediately. “Is this election about the prime minister? Shiggaon is a VIP seat. It is the chief minister’s seat, so we should all come together to elect him,” he said.
“Bommai has really worked hard for the constituency after he became the chief minister. New street lights were installed, drinking water pipelines are now being installed. He also opened an apparel hub that will generate jobs in the future,” Basavaraj went on to say, in a bid to convince his friend.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. Photo: Twitter/@BSBommai
Shiggaon is marked by strong Hindu-Muslim polarisation in terms of voting preferences, but the communities are barely adversarial to each other’s interests. Bommai himself has rarely fuelled anti-Muslim sentiments, unlike many of his party colleagues whom he empowered. In his constituency, he has largely focused on development work ever since he became the chief minister. Roads have been widened, street lights have been installed, a new apparel park was inaugurated, and new channels to supply drinking water were created under his regime.
Most of the Hindus, therefore, speak proudly about Shiggaon as a “VIP seat” and prefer Bommai over any other candidate in the fray. But for Muslims, who form a sizeable section of the electorate in Shiggaon, voting against the BJP has become an existential choice amidst frequent hate campaigns against the community, mostly helmed by saffron party leaders.
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The Congress has fielded an “outsider” and a new entrant in the electoral race, Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, while a Congress rebel and a known face in the area Sashidhar Channabasappa Yaligar is contesting as a Janata Dal (Secular) candidate. While most Hindus that The Wire came across in the seat were unhesitant about their support to Bommai despite allegations of corruption and poor leadership against him, Muslims reluctantly veered towards the Congress as they thought it was the only force to replace the “authoritarian” BJP government in the state.
“We would have ideally liked the Congress to field Sayed Khadiri or Yaligar as they have been with us through thick and thin. But now it has fielded a candidate from neighbouring Hangal. He is new but we will now vote for the party,” Rafique said.
Development issues take a backseat in Shiggaon’s polarised political scenario. Yet, Hindus and Muslims share a bond that is largely unaffected by the shrill cry of politics.
“Yes, we vote on different lines. But we don’t let that come in between our friendship. Rafique and I go a long way back. Shiggaon is the land of the 17th-century Shishunala Sharifa who is revered by both Hindus and Muslims. Although he was a Muslim, his guru was a Hindu named Govinda Bhatt,” said Basavaraj J. who is researching Karnataka’s folk tales as part of his PhD.
“For people of Shiggaon, Sufi and Bhakti traditions are a lived reality. No party can take that away from us,” Basavaraj, an avid BJP supporter, said.
The communal harmony seen in Shiggaon, despite different voting choices, feels like an oasis in the current political climate – but is precisely the reason why the BJP has found it so difficult to deepen the roots of assertive Hindutva in Karnataka. Barring parts of coastal Karnataka, where Hindutva has entrenched itself in day-to-day political practice, the BJP has mostly depended on communitarian fault lines among various caste groups to stitch together a competitive social coalition to challenge the Congress.
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On the face of it, Shiggaon will again vote on communal lines. But beneath the surface, the contest is more likely to unfold as the historical rivalry of political parties and candidates in which the dominant Lingayats and Muslims will play a major role.
The Congress’s strategy in Shiggaon is to unite Dalits and Muslims, with a hope that JD(S) candidate Yaligar will undercut Bommai, as both of them belong to the numerically strong Lingayat community. It also hopes to consolidate a large chunk of urban poor whose conditions worsened during the pandemic and are reeling under the stress of price rise and unemployment. “The infrastructure development initiated by the chief minister in the constituency had little room for the development of the poor,” Congress worker Anil Prakash said.
Bommai, who had won the seat with a margin of only 9,000 votes, will rely entirely on his stature as a chief minister, and a jump in his acceptability because of his position.