The bugle for the Karnataka Elections 2023 has already been blown and political parties are now coming up with their manifestoes and promise to woo the voters in their favor. The Karnataka Assembly Election 2023 will take place on May 10, 2023, and the state will elect its 224 representatives. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) unveiled its manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka Polls 2023, and as expected it made a plethora of promises. Promises like improving ease of living in Bengaluru by forming the Karnataka Residents’ Welfare Consultative Committee, providing 3 free cooking gas cylinders to all BPL families annually, developing Bengaluru for the next generation by designating it as a ‘State Capital Region’, and more, the ruling-BJP party made many big promises ahead of the upcoming elections. However, it was the announcement of the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that raised many eyebrows. BJP in its manifesto promised that if it comes back to power it will implement UCC in Karnataka based on the recommendations given by a high-level committee that is to be constituted for the purpose. Notably, if it happens, Karnataka will be the first state to implement BJP's ambitious UCC. However, many believe that Karnataka's Uniform Civil Code announcement tells a different story. To know what is it continue reading-
Karnataka's UCC an attempt to woo Hindu voters by BJP?
Kannada vs Hindi - Notably, the BJP has been trying hard with political campaigns in order to win the trust of Kannadas yet again. However, many believe that BJP's path to winning Karnataka Elections 2023 will not be smooth. Courtesy of the Kannada vs Hindi debate, the BJP has been seen as the party to promote the Hindu language rather than its local language. There are multiple videos have surfaced in which people of Karnataka were seen involved in an argument with Hindi speakers living in Kannada state. Notably, in September last year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to issue a clarification over Hindi's 'official language of India' remark. While addressing the All India Official Language Conference, Amit Shah said that "I want to make one thing very clear. Some people are spreading disinformation that Hindi and Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil, Hindi, and Marathi are competitors. Hindi cannot be a competitor to any other language in the country. You must understand that Hindi is the friend of all the languages of the country."
The Amul-Nandini controversy- Another controversy that turned out to be massive and dented BJP's campaign to mission Karnataka is the Amul-Nandini controversy. The Amul-Nandini controversy erupted in December 2022 and the center of the row was yet again Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Union Home Minister in December last year called for ‘cooperation’ between the cooperative-model-based dairy companies, Amul and Nandini, during a public meeting in Mandya. However, this statement by Shah led to sharp criticism from the Kannada people after opposition parties alleged that the BJP government is making efforts to merge Nandini with Amul and that it could have a devastating impact on Karnataka Milk Federation’s brand. Notably, Nanadani is among the oldest dairy organization operation in Karnataka and the entry of other parties might incur heavy losses for the regional dairy company.
Lingayats key to Karnataka Elections 2023- Notably, Vokkaligas and Lingayats are the two dominant communities in Karnataka. In order to woo their votes, the BJP last month scrapped four percent quota for minorities (Muslims) and add it to the existing quota of Vokkaligas and Lingayats. As per a report, Lingayats are said to constitute about 17 percent of Karnataka's population, and the community has dominance in as many as 100 out of total of 224 constituencies, the majority of these seats being in the north Karnataka region. Therefore, by announcing a 4 percent reservation and scrapping it from Muslims, the Saffron party has made its intentions very clear. Furthermore, the report also suggested that out of the 23 Chief Ministers that Karnataka has had since 1952, as many as 10 have been Lingayats, followed by six Vokkaligas, five from Backward Classes, and two Brahmins. However, another report suggested that despite of the additional reservations, Lingyats communities are not happy with Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai. A news portal quoted seer Dingaleshwara saying that Lingyats used to support the BJP because of former Chief Minister Yediyurappa. As per the Lingyat seer, under the Yediyurappa government, they were used to receive hundreds of crores of rupees to the mutts and its seers. The Lingayat mutts were the backbone of his political clout. It means the promise to implement the UCC in Karnataka can be said a final attempt to woo the Hindu voters as the majority of minorities are against it.
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For the unversed, the Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply to all citizens equally.