The beauty of coastal Karnataka is in sharp contrast to its politics. Sparkling back-waters and swaying palms were once witness to a land of religious co-existence. But over the last two decades, this picturesque region has been caught up in the politics of religious polarisation.
It was from here the Sangh Parivar first began its campaigns, starting with Hindu mobilisation against migrant Muslim workers from Kerala. In the 1983 Assembly elections, the BJP won 18 seats for the first time, mostly from the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Uttar Kannada.
In 2013 the Congress breached the saffron fortress and swept the region as the Sangh Parivar faced a revolt within. Out of 12 seats of Dakshin Kannada, Congress won 10, BJP 2. In Mangalore out of 8 seats, Congress won 7. A year later though in Lok Sabha polls it was business as usual as the BJP won all 3 MP seats of coastal Karnataka.
Mangalore comprises 18% Muslims, 13% Christians and 69% Hindus. “The mix of religions here makes Mangalore a communal tinder box,” says Suresh Bhat Bakrabail of the PUCL, “ but those fomenting communal troubles are only playing politics. It is not religious but purely political communalism.”
