The many lives of a regional party

The ability of the Deve Gowda clan to play the uncertainties of grassroots politics against the certainty of centralised high commands in Delhi has allowed the JD(S) to stay afloat in Karnataka

- Narendar Pani

The Janata Dal (Secular) joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has the appearance of being the last throw of the dice of a party that provided Karnataka’s only prime minister (PM). The JD(S) is expected to contest just four of the state’s 28 parliamentary seats and there are few signs of its leadership bargaining hard for more. The JD(S) is also justifying abandoning its secular tag with former chief minister (CM) HD Kumaraswamy saying the party supported Muslims, but Muslims did not support them. Yet, for those who have followed the JD(S) over the years, there must be some scepticism over the party throwing in the towel so soon.

The ability of the JD(S) to punch far above its weight has been evident throughout the history of the party. Deve Gowda became the PM on the strength of the JD(S) winning 16 parliamentary seats in Karnataka. And to show this was not a fluke his son, Kumaraswamy, became CM twice with just around a third of the MLAs needed for a majority. At the heart of this repeated success is the ability to play the uncertainties of grassroots politics against the certainty of centralised high commands in Delhi.

Back in 1996, I interviewed Deve Gowda after he was elected to head the United Front but before he was sworn in as the PM. I asked him, as one of the rare politicians who had participated in politics from the village level to the highest office in the land, what were the main differences at each level of politics. He answered without any hesitation that there was no difference, he had managed people in his village and would do so in Delhi. The answer consolidated the image of a country bumpkin that he was eager to cultivate.