Karnataka: Why Congress' Kannada-Only Stance Is Finding Support

On 15 July, the Karnataka cabinet approved a draft bill mandating that 50 per cent of management jobs and 70 per cent of non-management roles be reserved for locals in the private sector.

Additionally, the state government endorsed a 100 per cent quota for Kannadigas in Group C and Group D jobs (blue-collar workers) in the private sector.

While industry leaders have slammed this move and asked the government to reconsider, this does raise an important question — why has a city like Bengaluru changing its stance towards migrants from neighbouring states and the north?

The answer lies in understanding the city's history, its people and its outlook towards identity and industry.

Over the years, not only has Bengaluru created some iconic institutions, but has also put India on the global map. While most Indian cities like Kolkata and Chennai hung on to their past glory, Bengaluru surged past Delhi and even inspired many other states to develop cities on similar lines — Pune and Hyderabad being the two prominent examples.

Simultaneously though, many locals started migrating abroad for better opportunities and started selling their land to whoever bid the highest. As a result, the native population numbers began to decrease. On the other hand, it was not just the Tamil migrants who took refuge in the city.

Malayalis arrived in hordes, dotting bakeries, retail marts and real estate companies. Telugu migrants dominated the PG scene, while also getting into the construction business and learning the local language quickly.

Meanwhile, an aspirational population in the northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, etc, which was young, eyed Bengaluru for more educational and employment opportunities. Today, lakhs of them have settled in the city.

But only a handful of them speak Kannada.

You call for a cab, and most likely the driver will prefer to speak with you in Hindi. You call a restaurant to book a table, and they either address you in English or Hindi. Kannada has become a third option for citizens here, adding to the anxieties of Kannadigas. Some migrants make it worse for everyone by remaining adamant against learning the language.

Initial insecurity against this trend was not addressed by the political class. And today, many locals, including non-Kannada natives, have turned sympathetic towards the Kannada cause, even going as far as justifying hatred against migrants from the north working in the city.

If one should sympathise with the sentiment or not is beyond the point.

In Bengaluru, for instance, most of our friends have left the city since they had well-paying jobs, a foreign education and offers from the top tech firms in the Silicon Valley.

One can understand why they do not want to come back to a city with a corrupt political class that has failed to address fairly simple issues like traffic and non-locals dominating the scene. It breeds contempt within a person who is trying hard to move on.

While the Congress may up its ante on pro-Kannada matters, it has often promoted non-Kannada leaders to rise quickly within the ranks.

It derives a big chunk of its support from the Tamilian and Malayali pockets of population in the city. It is for the same reason why K J George and N A Harris continue to be among the top brass of the Congress state leadership despite not being able to form a single sentence coherently in Kannada.

Why is the BJP not raising this?

Because even they are equally guilty of it. Many Rajasthanis, Gujaratis and other non-Kannada locals from the north have been voting for the BJP in Bengaluru South, Central and North (to some extent).

All in all, no party can claim that they are pro-Kannada or anti-migrants.

It is all an eyewash. All rhetoric.

The BJP is on the receiving end because they have not played the game as smartly as the Congress has. They've been at the receiving end, but they arguably have more proficient Kannada-speaking leaders than the other parties.

But they will not highlight this to counter the divisive narrative conveniently introduced to distract public and media attention from all the scams, scandals and administrative inefficiencies.