Experts to discuss Lingayat, Vokkaliga dominance in state politics

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru:

In the fractious castebased politics of postindependent Karnataka, the historic rivalry between the Lingayats and Vokkaligas has dictated the trajectory of state politics with both these politically dominant castes having a disproportionately high share of political representation relative to their populations.  Informal estimates put the respective populations of the Lingayats and Vokkaligas at around 14-16 per cent and 10-11 per cent of Karnataka’s population but MLAs belonging to these two castes won roughly half the seats (out of 224) in the 2018 elections in Karnataka.

While Lingayats are influential in north and central Karnataka where the BJP will compete with the Congress, Vokkaligas, a peasant caste, are dominant in 11 districts in south Karnataka with emphatic political supremacy in the districts of Hassan, Mandya, Ramanagaram and Bengaluru Rural. Even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to establish a strong base across Karnataka over the past three decades, it is perceived to be a Lingayat-backed party and the Vokkaliga dominated parts of south Karnataka or ‘Old Mysore’ (as this region is also known because it is contiguous with the former borders of the princely state of Mysore) have, largely, remained impervious to its influence.

This panel discussion examines this overwhelming and emphatic dominance of these two powerful communities on the politics of Karnataka. Muzaffar Assadi, who's one of the speakers, is Dean, Faculty of Arts, and Chairperson, Departments of Political Science and Public Administration, at the University of Mysore. A political scientist, he is a frequent commentator on the political economy of Karnataka. He has written 12 books in English and Kannada A Narayana, Professor, Public Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University is also another speaker.

Electoral politics is an area of his interest which he developed during his earlier career as a journalist in Bangalore and he has been keenly watching elections in Karnataka since 1994. He writes on Karnataka politics in both Kannada and English newspapers and magazines Karnataka will be going in for Assembly elections in the middle of 2023. The Bangalore International Centre has organised a series of talks – Karnataka Votes 2023 – that highlights the various elements of state politics, its culture and history that are often unique to this state, and affect the voting pattern.