Shocking level of political promiscuity

Defectors are sacrificing ideology for personal gain

This election season, Karnataka has perhaps witnessed the highest number of defections ever, with even tall leaders who appeared to be well entrenched in the ideologies of their parties making the shift. While all parties have been affected, the BJP has taken the biggest hit, with senior Lingayat leaders like former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi joining the Congress, relinquishing the belief systems they had held close to their hearts all their lives. In a way, the BJP, which engineered defections from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 2019, has been paid back in the same coin. Mahesh Kumathalli of the Congress had defeated Savadi, a three-time BJP MLA, in Athani during the 2018 Assembly elections. Having taken Kumathalli’s support to form the government, the BJP had no option but to grant him a ticket this time, ignoring the claims of Savadi, its long time footsoldier. It may have appeared to be a case of poetic justice but Savadi could not find political justice in it. In other constituencies too, the BJP has been forced to field defectors in place of loyal workers who have toiled for the party for years. While it remains to be seen if the defection of Shettar and Savadi will lead to a shift of Lingayat votes to the Congress, the JD(S), which was bereft of candidates, heaved a sigh of relief after about 20 leaders from other parties joined it.

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But such large scale cross-party defections on election eve raise questions about the ideological moorings of our leaders and how strongly they are tied to them. The message that they have sent out loud and clear is that the philosophies of the parties that they so strongly swore by can be sacrificed for the sake of personal advancement. And in the process, they are only too willing to embrace diametrically opposite ideologies that they all along opposed. The rank opportunism is a reflection of the abysmal depths to which political morality has sunk in Karnataka. It will make voters cynical and push them to lose faith in politicians and the system.

When politicians swing from one end of the spectrum to the other, with utter contempt for voters and party workers, the party system and democracy based on it may be in danger. While they have a right to change their opinions and accept new views and ideologies, doing so solely for personal gain is unacceptable. Politicians should have coherent value systems, and should not lower the credibility of the system and undermine it.