Did Hindu activists of coast reach breaking point after Praveen murder?

In October 2015, Bajrang Dal member Prashanth Poojary, 29, was hacked to death outside his flower stall in Moodbidri.

Seven years on, the case is still under trial. His mother Yashoda rolls beedis to make ends meet.

“The thought that my only son will be my pallbearer gave me a sense of fulfilment. Now, there is no such hope left in my life,” Yashoda, a Billava woman, says.

People streamed into her house for three weeks after Prashanth’s murder with all kinds of assurances. Then, the visits stopped.

Local donors raised money to clear a Rs 25-lakh home loan that Prashanth had borrowed.

A Rs-50,000 dole given by former BJP chief minister B S Yediyurappa went to moneylenders who kept knocking on her door, Yashoda says.

Prashanth was, reportedly, part of a vigilante group involved in preventing the transport of cows for slaughter, one of the many Hindu ‘causes’ that attracts scores of youngsters.

It is such Hindu ‘causes’ that have contributed to the ruling BJP’s electoral success.

However, watering the saffron seeds are dozens of youngsters - many of them from backward castes like the Billava - who have been killed over the years.

On July 26, it was BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru’s turn to die, breaking the levee of anger that had brewed within the Hindutva camp.

Lack of protection for Hindutva workers, delayed justice and government inaction against radical groups have fed this anger that spilt out against the BJP government.

‘Merely for poll dividends’

“Many karyakartas from Billava and other backward communities have now realised that communal flare-ups are not ideological, but merely to help the BJP reap possible electoral dividends,” says Sunil Bajilakeri, a Billava who was once an active Sangh Parivar trooper.

Today, Sunil is the convenor of Samarasya Mangaluru, a forum that spreads the message of communal harmony in the polarised coastal districts.

“The post-Covid unemployment has helped many people see through the BJP’s lies,” he adds.

According to one former Bajrang Dal leader who did not want to be named, the BJP government faces displeasure because of the “ineffective” implementation of laws against cow slaughter and religious conversion, which are staple items on the BJP’s Hindutva agenda. On top of that is the BJP government’s continued “dilly-dallying” on banning the SDPI and PFI.

Plus, the grassroots worker is disillusioned. Organisationally, very few have seen benefits.

As one RSS leader in Sullia puts it, the goal of empowering citizens with nationalist ideals has been replaced by aspirations of “recognition and fame” to draw some people to the Sangh Parivar.

These aspirations are neglected, triggering angry outbursts like the one that was seen after Praveen’s death.

‘Wake-up call’

According to this leader, Praveen’s death and its aftermath is “a wake-up call” for the BJP.

“They were moving around in cars unaware that it was karyakartas who filled the fuel tank.”

Apparently, the BJP’s disconnect with its workers came full circle when its lawmakers stopped attending the Samanvaya Baithaks - meetings held with nonprofits on development works.

Also, the BJP has been accused of favouring the dominant communities. For example, BJP state executive committee member Ramachandra Baikampady resigned recently alleging that the Mogaveera community has not been given any position for four decades.

Sri Rama Sene founder Pramod Muthalik, as staunch a Hindutva hardliner as he is a critic of the BJP government, says the saffron party has faced a setback.

Insecure feeling

“Hindutva youths are feeling insecure even when their own party is in power,” he says.

“If the BJP high command doesn’t give a serious thought about this, the party would lose its roots in coastal Karnataka.”

(with inputs from R Shrinidhi in Hubballi)