Guards at the Gateway

Though the BJP has increased its presence in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, significant hurdles remain in its way

- Anisha Reddy

UP until the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the land beyond the Vindhyas was perceived as a region far from the reach of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With 25 seats in Karnataka and four in Telangana, the saffron party’s aggressive politics faced sharp resistance in the five southern states, which account for roughly 20 per cent of the country’s population and 30 per cent of its economy. But by the late evening on June 4, the electoral map of south India looked quite different.

The BJP won 17 seats in Karnataka, eight in Telangana, three in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and one in Kerala. The party won the same number of seats, 29, even in the last general election. But this time, the BJP managed to open its account in AP and Kerala. Meanwhile, its allies too helped the BJP: Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) won two seats in Karnataka, the Telugu Desam Party won 16 and the Jana Sena won two in AP.

Groundbreaking

Dubbed nationally as the BJP’s gateway to south India, Karnataka has historically been a breeding ground for Hindutva and polarisation politics since the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1980s and even before that. When the saffron party was ousted in the state assembly elections last year, many wondered if this was the first step towards the gateway closing for the party. But observers say that the party and its ideology remain dominant in the state in many ways.

Firstly, the BJP has continued to retain power in the coastal regions of the state—whether in the Lok Sabha elections or the state assembly elections—for almost 33 years now. “That trend seems to be continuing,” observes K P Suresh, an independent activist and political commentator from Mangalore. The BJP retained all three coastal Parliamentary seats—Dakshina Kannada, Udupi Chikmagalur and Uttara Kannada—albeit by decreased margins in comparison to the 2019 Lok Sabha election.