A diverse group of individuals and organisations are trying to instil the spirit of the Constitution in places where the social fabric has been rent by communal polarisation.
By Anisha Sheth
Karnataka is witnessing an unprecedented political churn as the state goes to polls. Its people and institutions are more polarised than ever before due to the systematic efforts of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar which has had a presence in the state since the 1930s. After the BJP came to power in 2008 polarisation has only intensified, with the BJP’s 2018-23 tenure marked by the hijab controversy, calls for economic boycott of Muslims, and draconian laws on cow slaughter and religious conversions.
It is in this political and social atmosphere that Karnataka’s ideologically diverse civil society groups and progressive movements have gone all out to contain the BJP politically with one common strategy: reminding people that they owe their civil liberties to the Constitution and vote to support it.
Communal undercurrent
The sheer range and spread of groups is mind-boggling. They include groups working to promote theatre, education, science and rationalism, communal harmony, migrant workers’ living conditions, women’s rights, Dalit’s rights, farmers’ rights, eradication of manual scavenging, and slum residents’ rights, among others. Some work with each other, others independently.
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