Muthalik and Sriramulu: What will be Modi's pitch in Karnataka?

The Muthalik episode on Sunday has exposed yet again the BJP’s inherent double speak and proclivity to extreme possibilities when it’s not under surveillance. Nothing else explains the admission of a man with 45 cases against him - perhaps the most notorious cultural policing officer of the country - into the party by none other than the former Karnataka chief minister and party’s state president at a special function.

That he was thrown out within a few hours of admission, reportedly at the instance of the central leadership, was a face-saver for the party; but the bigger question that remained unanswered is how he qualified to join a national political party that is getting ready to form the next union government. If both the state president of the party and the former chief minister wanted him in the BJP, they should have found some merit in their prize catch. What was it that made Jagdish Shettar and Prahlad Joshi think of Muthalik as poll-worthy?

It’s not just about the Sangh Parivar elements. A few days ago, another controversial man, B Sri Ramulu, who is close to the Bellary Reddy brothers, was admitted to the party and given a seat of his choice (Bellary) by the state unit of the party. Reportedly, some within the party argued that his entry was the de facto re-entry of the Reddy brothers who are in jail. But the state leadership couldn’t care less - the reasons were apparently his clout in the tribal belt and financial muscle- his party had won four seats in the assembly elections. After ensuring the support of the money and vote bag, they turned towards the cultural policeman, which somehow failed.

This is the inherent problem with the BJP. At some level, they do decry attacks on minorities, cultural policing, corruption and saffronisation; but in the same breath they encourage elements that orchestrate them. At the national level, they need to appear less combative and more inclusive, but at the grass roots, their DNA doesn’t mutate. It shows up its real make-up again and again.

The BJP may tout more and more Muslims (e.g. MJ Akbar) joining its leadership and ranks as evidence of its secularism and Modi’s tirade against the Congress as its campaign against corruption for good governance. But with people such as Sriramulu and Muthalik, what will be Modi’s campaign pitch in Karnataka?