STATE OF PLAY
Certain attempts to polarise votes on communal lines have gained ground in Karnataka, which is heading to Assembly polls barely a year from now. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes to reap a rich harvest by consolidation of Hindu votes, the two opposition parties — Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) — have backed the Muslim community in varying degrees on a slew of issues that have been raked up, be it Muslim girls not being allowed to wear hijab in classrooms or disallowing Muslim traders to set up shops during festivals at Hindu temples. There is a political one-upmanship between the two to boost their “Muslim-friendly” image.
Meanwhile, players like All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are keen to carve their spaces in the political arena. Though AIMIM and SDPI have been floating candidates, they might at best become "spoilers" for non-BJP entities as in other States. The tussle for electoral space is bound to become more intense with the entry of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
