Basavaraj walks Hindutva path for Karnataka polls
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 15: While the Karnataka Assembly polls are only about nine months away, the state chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has taken a front foot guard with Hindutva plank.
The Karnataka legislative council has passed the toughest anti-conversion bill in the country. The provisions of the bill would make any conversion almost impossible, for anyone can make a complaint against possible allurement, coercion, use of force, undue influence, any other means, or promise of marriage.
The bill, thus, makes anything under the sky that could be invoked against conversions.
The BJP-ruled states such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and others have also enacted anti-conversion laws, but none come anywhere closer in steel-casket framed law.
A convict in cases of conversions can land up in jail for a term of 10 years, while it will be a non-bailable offence.
Bommai has been the most underrated Hindutva poster boy, who after assuming charge of the chief minister of Karnataka has been seen in an overdrive to implement the wish list of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.
The chief minister was unapologetic about ban on hijab in the classrooms in the educational institutions. He went by the rule book to stop the students from wearing hijab.
Additionally, Karnataka was among the first to adopt the National Education Policy 2020, which is dear to the RSS. Bommai steered the path of the language controversy even while the NEP 2020 has run into deep southern trouble on the language issue.
On the revision of the history books, Bommai remained firm despite being slammed by the critics for inclusion of references to individuals from the ranks of the RSS.
Armed with toughest anti-conversion bill, Bommai is bracing for a strong Hindtuva pitch for the Karnataka Assembly elections, while the BJP braces for an electoral contest with Congress and Janata Dal (Secular).
Within the BJP, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is reckoned as an undisputed Hindu poster boy, who was instrumental in polarizing the electoral narrative to overwhelm the political affiliations of the castes in Karnataka.
Bommai may also be hoping to repeat the feat of Adityanath in the Karnataka polls, as the opposition parties are on an overdrive for consolidation of castes in the state.
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