BJP is no longer the ‘garbhagudi’ where outsiders felt unwelcome

BENGALURU: Once known for shunning those who didn’t share its ideology, BJP in Karnataka has transformed over the decades. The saffron party now accommodates ‘outsiders’ and even fast tracks them through the system, much to the discomfiture of ‘loyal’ workers.
Lately, this trend has been stark. New converts who helped BJP form the government four years ago have gained, while hardcore BJP leaders like Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi have felt it expedient to leave for their political survival.
All 19 sitting MLAs who were denied tickets to contest the May 10 elections are seen as party loyalists.But of the 16 defectors who had switched from the JD(S)-Congress coalition to help BJP form the government in 2019, only R Shankar has been denied a ticket. AH Vishwanath, who was nominated MLC, had hinted at quitting the party well before elections.
Shankar was denied a ticket in an earlier byelection too but was accommodated as an MLC, while Vishwanath contested the bypoll and lost. Another defector, Pratapgouda Patil, who lost the byelections, has been nominated again. All defectors, barring Vishwanath, Patil and Mahesh Kumathalli were made ministers, even as many seniors who had risen through the ranks waited in the wings.
“Gone are the days when BJP was conservative and protective towards its cadre and ideology,” said minister S Angara, who was denied the ticket from Sullia. “The party was so conservative thatthose from other parties would hesitate to join because of the ‘cultural difference’. Now, with winning being the priority, it is compromising on its original principles and giving ‘outsiders’ privileges which loyalists did not enjoy.”
Seniors like Shobha Karandlaje, BJP management committee chairperson, admit compromises have been made as the party is seeking to secure an elusive majority, but insist BJP is a cadre-based party and is committed to protecting its rank and file.
Not long ago, former minister HN Nanje Gowda, who switched from Congress to BJP and later quit, had termed the saffron party’s treatment of those coming from other parties as garbhagudi samskruthi (sanctum sanctorum culture) where migrants are ghettoized.
Stalwarts like Jeevaraj Alva and former chief minister S Bangarappa reportedly felt like fish out of water in BJP and the common refrain then was that garbhagudi politics would never allow outsiders to be comfortable in BJP.
‘No defect in the party’
But senior BJP functionaries sought to scotch this theory, arguing that only those who join the party with expectations of securing plum positions quickly would get frustrated.
“The defect is in the person not the party,” said DH Shankar Murthy, a founder of BJP in Karnataka and former chairman of the legislative council. “We should look at the circumstances surrounding their entry. They had individual problems in their respective parties when they defected to BJP. They all wanted to prove a point by gaining big posts within no time. They had no patience.”
BJP functionaries say it is allhogwash that outsiders can’t gel with the saffron party’s brand of cultural nationalism and politics, citing Basavaraj Bommai, who became chief minister in less than 15 years of defecting from the Janata Parivar, as an example to bolster their claims.
Bommai even contested against Jagadish Shettar in 1994 as a Janata Dal candidate in Hubballi Rural, although he lost. They also point to the example of Bangarappa’s son, Kumar, becoming a minister in the BJP government.
Thriving in BJP
Murthy cites examples of K Sudhakar, who is heading the BJP manifesto committee, BC Patil, ST Somashekar, K Gopalaiah, A Shivaram Hebbar and others who joined BJP after quitting the JD(S)-Congress alliance in 2019, thriving in the party. He said Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was himself originally from Congress.
MH Sridhar, BJP state executive member, too said that at least 40% of senior functionaries occupying significant posts both in party organisation and the government were earlier either in Congress or Janata Parivar.
“Anyone who has grown up with socialist ideals and spent a long time in Congress or Janata Parivar will experience a cultural shock on joining BJP. Some may adapt but those who cannot feel suffocated,” said Vishwanath, who recently held a Prayaschchitta Satyagraha (atonement sit-in) for making the mistake of joining BJP in 2019. He is now set to return to Congress.