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The Marginalisation of the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka

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The leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) have finally doused the rumours floating round of the party merging with the BJP. It is clear that there is no political smoke without fire. That fire may have been minor or minimal but a fire there surely must have been! It would be unwise to write the political obituary of any political party, especially one like the JD(S) which has had the knack of bouncing back with regular frequency.

The Marginalisation of the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka

The party is today clearly at the cross-roads having been pushed to a distant third position in the political competition in the state. Karnataka is the only state where it has a semblance of a presence. What is the way forward for the party? Maybe one needs to reflect on its past, analyze its present to make any projections for the future.

Basanagouda Patil hints at 'historical changes' in Karnataka after SankrantiBasanagouda Patil hints at 'historical changes' in Karnataka after Sankranti

The JD(S) in Karnataka is a splinter group of what was originally the Janata party. This was the political formulation that first unseated the Congress party at the national level in 1977. It was the same Janata party which ended the uninterrupted run of the Congress party in Karnataka in 1983. With the outside support of the BJP on the hand and the Communist parties on the other, the Janata party formed a minority government in Karnataka under the leadership of Ramakrishna Hegde after the 1983 Assembly elections.

Two years later, in a snap poll, the Janata Party under Hegde, won a clear majority in the Assembly. The internal convulsions in the party soon came to the fore especially after the Janata Party was rechristened as the Janata Dal at the national level. In Karnataka, a splinter group led by Deve Gowda decided to retain the original identity of the Janata party.

The factions once again came together prior to the 1994 elections to part ways a few years later, resulting in the creation of the JD(S) and JD(U). It may also be important to highlight that as a part of the National Front formed at the national level in 1996, the JDS leader Deve Gowda, was chosen to lead the coalition government and was Prime Minister for over a year.

In a state which has. In the last four decades seen a bi-party competition, the Janata Party emerged as the key rival to the Congress after its formation in 1977. When the BJP was born in 1980, it emerged as a distant third force in the politics of the state. The 1990s saw the gradual rise of the BJP and in 2004, the BJP emerged as the key competitor to the Congress relegating the JD(S) to being a third force in the politics of the state. This position has remained more or less unchanged in the last decade and a half.

After having secured a majority in the 1994 assembly elections, the Janata Dal (and later JDS) has never again been able to repeat this performance. It has been part of a ruling coalition thrice in subsequent years. In all three cases it was the junior partner in the coalition. Soon after the 2004 elections, it teamed up with the Congress to form a government under the leadership of Dharam Singh with Siddaramaiah (then in the JDS) becoming Deputy Chief Minister. Two years later, in a political coupe of sorts, Kumaaraswamy led a breakaway group in the party and joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition.

The BJP had the larger numbers in the coalition but conceded the Chief Ministership to Kumaaraswamy for the first twenty months. When the time for a switch over of Chief Ministership came, the JDS went back on its promise and the government collapsed. After the 2018 Assembly elections, the JDS joined hands with the numerically larger Congress and formed a coalition government with Kumaaraswamy as Chief Minister. This government lasted for little over a year, collapsing with the resignation of many legislators from the coalition who switched sides to the BJP.

From being a key player in the politics of the state, the JDS has now been relegated to the position of a minor third force. It has had its brief moments in the political spotlight when no party emerged with a clear majority and one among the two key players (BJP or the Congress) sought to strike an alliance for short term political gains.

Each time the JDS entered into such an alliance it has led to the weakening of the party and also strengthened the role and position of the party it has aligned with. Over the years, one is also witness to senior leaders of the JDS moving out of the party and making their way to either the Congress or the BJP. This has largely been account of the party being reduced to a closely held family organization. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, more than half the seats that the JDS contested in the state had candidates from the Deve Gowda family.

The ups and downs that the party has witnessed were clearly mirrored in the fact that the former Prime Minister has himself last the Lok Sabha elections thrice, from three different constituencies ( Hassan, Kanakapura and Tumkur).

Many senior leaders in the Congress (led by Siddaramaiah) began their political careers in the Janata parivar and later gravitated to the Congress. During Siddaraiamah's Chief Ministership many old timers of the Congress alleged that a majority of the key positions in the party and government were held by those who were earlier part of the Janata party.

The increasingly marginalization of the JDS has been on account of the limited political space that was available to leaders from outside the first family. Its reducing presence in the Vokkaliga heartland of the Old Mysore region was hastened by its joining hands with the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and opening up the political space for the BJP. To reassert its role, the party would need to re-capture its political base and move beyond being a family controlled party. A tall order for sure which is difficult though not impossible!

(Dr Shastri is a keen student of Politics and has written extensively on leadership)

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