Karnataka may be the beginning of Narendra Modi’s end in 2019

Who could have imagined that the BJP will bite the dust in Karnataka, considering the Narendra Modi and Amit Shah combine, backed by massive money power, was out to sustain BS Yeddyurappa as the state Chief Minister. It was crucial for Modi to win Karnataka. He failed. His second step was to push BSY into the seat of power. He managed it easily in league with his own man as the state Governor who, throwing constitutional propriety to the winds, swore in Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister.

Here Narendra Modi and the RSS combine erred and erred badly. They thought that they have succeeded to transform India into another Pakistan where democracy is murdered periodically with the help of the so-called constitutional machinery. Their confidence lay in the fact that they thought that they have already fixed all Indian institutions—right from judiciary, executive, legislature down to media. Indeed, they had managed to place their men in key positions all over from Governor houses to benches in courts to an institution you name. And it was rigged like it happens in Pakistan.

But it was a grievous mistake on part of the Modi-RSS combine. Indeed, they want to transform India into another Pakistan. But India is no Pakistan. It is not a nation conceived by Jinnah on the basis of two-nation theory alone - the theory that denies equal rights to members of non-Muslim faiths in Pakistan. Indian nationhood is the culmination of long anti-colonial struggle led by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, BR Ambedkar, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, etc.

They were not just stalwarts; they were the leaders who led a renaissance in Indian life and society. They laid down the foundations of a modern, secular and liberal India based on the rule of law upheld by a Constitution supported by key institutions like Parliament, judiciary, executive, etc.

What happened in Karnataka defied that basic idea of India based on the rule of law. The Governor, defying the will of the people and denying the majority Congress-JD(S) alliance a chance, installed Yeddyurrapa as the Karnataka Chief Minister. It was, as commentators said, the murder of democracy. This kind of brazen violation of all democratic and constitutional norms may work in Pakistan where it happens every other day.

But Indian democracy is over seven decades old now. Our Constitution is a revered book of governance. When fundamentals were defied, India was shocked. And Karnataka, under the Congress-JD(S) banner, decided to fight back. The Modi-Shah-RSS machine combined with money power failed. All attempts to buy out non-BJP MLAs miserably failed. The entire country witnessed how money was offered and how MLAs stood by the Congress in Karnataka.

Ultimately democracy triumphed in Karnataka. One hopes the rule of law will prevail there. Simply because we live in Gandhi and Nehru’s India and are not the citizens of Jinnah’s Pakistan. Karnataka has also opened the gate of greater secular and liberal Opposition unity for the 2019 parliamentary battle. Hopefully, the Opposition has read the writing on the wall and is ready to jointly fight back the Modi-RSS combine now. Who knows? Karnataka may prove to the beginning of Narendra Modi’s end in 2019 as well.