Karnataka Assembly election: BJP’s mother-tongue politics

BENGALURU: Elections always bring national leaders to Karnataka for campaigning. This Assembly poll will be no different. However, the BJP has added a twist and customised its campaigning style this time. BJP leaders will target voters specific to their region. For instance, a party leader from Gujarat will campaign in areas that have a large number of Gujaratis and even speak in the language.

With BJP national president Amit Shah targeting 150 of the 224 seats, Bengaluru is extremely vital with 27 Assembly constituencies. In 2013, BJP had won 12 seats in Bengaluru Urban constituency.

A senior BJP leader told Express that over a period of time, the number of Kannadigas has come down in Bengaluru. “Only about 38 to 40 per cent of the population in Bengaluru is Kannadigas. This means that the remaining 60 per cent are non-Kannadigas. Some of them are second-generation voters. During election, we always target the traditional voters, most of whom are Kannadigas. This time, we are reaching out to the non-Kannadigas,” he said.

Starting Monday, many national leaders will come to address unorganised working people.

Sadashiva P N, BJP city unit president, said the list of leaders coming to Bengaluru is yet to be finalised. “From April 27, many national leaders will come here. Hotels in and around the BJP office in Malleswaram will be booked for their stay. Every day, two to three leaders will address gatherings at selected Assembly constituencies. These leaders from outside Karnataka will interact with people from their states who are residing in Bengaluru,” he added.

Another source said, “For instance, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju is from Arunachal Pradesh. He will address gatherings in Bengaluru’s BTM Layout, which has many people from the north east. Similarly, Amit Shah will address people in West Bengaluru, which has a large number of Gujaratis. K R Puram, on the other hand, has many Biharis. So we will try to bring Sushil Modi here. The idea is to reach to these voters in their regional languages. We have plans to distribute pamphlets that will be printed in their regional languages.”

This apart, some leaders who can influence, irrespective of their region will also come to campaign. These include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The BJP’s target is now the ‘new Bengaluru’, the source said. Bengaluru has become home to non-Kannadigas after the IT boom. There are people from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, north eastern states, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar among others. Not only are they buying properties, they also have Electoral Photo ID Card or EPIC. And these are the voters BJP wants to woo, the source said.