Coastal Turbulence

Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada-districts in coastal Karnataka, which witnessed increased instances of polarisation in the last few years-have been the BJP's stronghold

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Anisha Reddy in Mangaluru and Udupi

AMIDST grand preparations for the consecration ceremony of Ayodhya's Ram temple early this year, many in Karnataka's coastal Udupi town recalled with fear, the "Dharm Sansad" (religious parliament) held in 1985.

Over a thousand Hindutva ideologues and saints passed a resolution, vowing to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya in place of the mosque. What followed after saw a trail of bloodshed in the coastal region of Karnataka. And the region has remained on the brink of violence since then.

It was in the 80s that the ideology started to gain steam in the state. The spread of Hindutva along the 320 km-long coastal belt of Karnataka presents an interesting case, one that doesn't run on similar campaign lines of UP or Gujarat.

The Rise of Hindutva

Parallel with the Ram Mandir movement, right-wing groups saw an opportunity in the visible economic advancement and affluence of minority groups-particularly Muslim traders post 1991 liberalisation. These groups spun narratives, often pitting Muslims against backward classes who were less prosperous. One such rumour, Professor Muzaffar Assadi notes, claimed that Muslims were injecting AIDS through syringes to those who were participating in a festival in Aasodi village.

This was further aggravated with the rumour that Muslims were seeking out women as 'soft targets', Assadi notes. Without verifying the truth behind such claims, the Karvis (one such backward caste fishermen community) went on a rampage against Muslim houses, he adds. The narrative wasn't always on purely communal lines. In the 1990s, speeches of Sadhvis Rithambara and Uma Bharti, key figures in the Ram temple movement, were widely broadcast. They would publicly despise women who were 'influenced' by western culture.