By Aravind Bhatikar

T H E 2023 Karnataka Assembly Elections will neither be remembered for the resounding victory of the Congress nor for the humiliating drubbing received by the BJP. It will neither be remembered for the total presence of all top Indian leaders of the BJP in Karnataka, nor will it be remembered for almost the total absence of the local BJP leadership from the media. The Elections will only be remembered for Prime Minister Modi’s blatant and defiant misuse of “Bajrang Bali” for seeking votes. The elections will be remembered for the Prime Minister’s call to voters to press the button on the Election day after chanting “Jai Bajrang Bali”. The Elections will also be remembered for the inaction of the Election Commission and for not stopping the Prime Minister from invoking “Bajrang Bali” in public meetings and seeking votes. It will be remembered for Narendra Modi’s deliberate twist-aword strategy, which equated “Bajrang Dal” with “Bajrang Bali” and which attempted to whip up communal frenzy. The Elections will be remembered for the Counter Slogan coined and announced by Mallikarjun Kharge, the President of the Indian National Congress, “Jai Bajrang Bali, tod de bhrashtachar ki nali”, joining hands with the BJP for mixing up religion and politics. The Elections will be remembered for the campaign led by Narendra Modi, the top most leader of the BJP and not the Prime Minister of India, for there was total silence from the Prime Minister on more than 50 deaths in Manipur due to violence between different communities! For total silence from the Prime Minister on the female wrestling Olympic Champions protesting against sexual harassment by the BJP Politician cum President of the Wrestling Federation of India! For total silence from the Prime Minister on the martyrdom of 6 jawans of the Indian Army in a terrorist attack in J&K. The Elections will be remembered for what threatens to be a new trend: mixing up of religion and politics by all political parties in defiance of the Supreme Court judgements and Code of Conduct and the ineffectiveness of the Central Election Commission.