#KarnatakaElections: Pramod Muthalik vows ‘to expose BJP’s dhongi Hindutva’

Four years ago, on March 24, Pramod Muthalik was inducted into the BJP at 11 am. The bouquets of flowers that came in were still fresh and the sweet packets not yet emptied when at 4 pm, the decision to take him in was revoked.

It was an unceremonious exit and every time Muthalik is reminded of the humiliation, you can see his face turning an extra shade of crimson red.

“They rejected me and instead took people who came with the money and caste factors,” says Muthalik, adding “10 per cent of Congress party’s corrupt people are now in the BJP. They allowed murderers and criminals into the party. I am not a rapist or a murderer. They accepted people like SM Krishna who spent all his political life in the Congress. Why not Muthalik, I ask.”

I meet Muthalik in Dharwad town and unlike many from the political tribe in election season, he keeps his appointed time of 5 pm. The chief of the Hindu vigilante group Sri Ram Sene, that he claims now has a membership of 5 lakh, with a presence in every district of Karnataka and 11 other states, is in campaign mode.

The Sene is contesting 40 seats in Karnataka on the Shiv Sena symbol. One does not need to be a political pundit to know whose vote share Muthalik will be hurting on May 12.

“I am not here to make the Congress win and BJP lose. I want to make the Sena gain ground. I am here for Hindutva as the BJP is misusing it. I want to expose BJP’s dhongi (fake) Hindutva,” says Muthalik.

The 55-year-old makes it a point to emphasise that both the BJP and the Congress are his political rivals. It is in tune with the Shiv Sena which, despite being a partner in the government in Maharashtra, contests against the BJP. The catchment area of both parties is the Hindu vote-bank. While the Sena is not a force to reckon with in Karnataka, it would hope to make a dent riding on Muthalik’s vitriolic rhetoric.

“The BJP is ruling in the name of Hindus. The Congress was so far only appeasing Muslims but the Hindu voters have made them realise their folly. Which is why they are visiting temples. That shows the strength of Hindus,” says Muthalik.

It is not as if Muthalik even after the 2014 rebuff did not knock on the BJP door again. His bitterness comes to the fore as he admits he had been in touch with the Karnataka BJP leaders.

“But I felt they did not want me. They did not respond to me. Now all doors are closed. They are the most corrupt party without any ideology,” says Muthalik.

He also reserves his bile for the RSS, positioning himself as a far better defender of the Hindu faith than the Sangh Parivar.

“I am a fighter and I fight for the Hindu cause. I am seen as a Hindu leader. I am not like the RSS because it does not fight, it only talks,” says Muthalik derisively.

Muthalik shot into notoriety in January 2009 when goons from the Sri Ram Sene were caught on camera vandalising the Amnesia pub in Mangaluru and assaulting several young men and women, objecting to them drinking alcohol. This was a brazen and ugly act of moral policing that shamed the city. Muthalik was subsequently asked to leave the Dakshina Kannada district for a year.

Nine years later, a court in Mangaluru this March acquitted Muthalik and 24 others, citing lack of evidence in the case. Muthalik gives the impression that the branding of his group has chastened him to an extent and says “moral policing is bad”. But he chooses to block all questions about the pub attack, falling back on the legal clean chit.

“Now we have been acquitted. Lots of incidents happened after 2009, we did not do them. If you ask me if I regret what happened in Mangaluru, I say there is no point discussing it,” he says.

Though the BJP dismisses Muthalik as a political force of no consequence, the Shiv Sena is bullish about its chances in two seats of the 40 it is contesting – in Raichur city and in Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district. Sena spokesperson Gangadhar Kulkarni says the response in these two constituencies and the cadre support and enthusiasm makes the party feel it is in with a chance.

Would you back the BJP if it emerges as the single-largest party and is just short of a majority? I ask Muthalik.

“I will not support the BJP if I win these two seats,” he replies. The scars of 2014 clearly have not healed.