A former student leader in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, C.T. Ravi, 55, rose through the ranks to become an MLA from Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka. He was a minister in the B.S. Yediyurappa cabinet when BJP president J.P. Nadda asked him to work for the organisation. Ravi accepted the new role and resigned from the cabinet in 2020. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he shares his thoughts on the BJP's poll prospects and defends the saffron party’s policies and ideology. Excerpts:
Q Some surveys are estimating a clean sweep for the Congress in the polls. What is your assessment?
A The Congress is known to make sound rather than work on the ground. After the Goa polls, a senior Congress leader from Karnataka flew to Goa in a special aircraft to install their government, but who finally formed the government? In Uttar Pradesh, they created enough noise during the ‘Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’ campaign. The Congress contested in 399 seats and lost its deposit in 387.
Q What are the BJP's internal surveys saying?
A We will comfortably cross the magic number. Our target is 150 seats. In Old Mysuru, we are hoping to get 20-25 seats. In Kalyana Karnataka (formerly Hyderabad-Karnataka), we hope to win 25. In Bengaluru, we have 15 out of 28 seats and we will scale it up to 20. In the Coastal Karnataka and Central Karnataka we intend to retain existing seats. In Kittur Karnataka (Mumbai-Karnataka) we want to increase our tally to 40 from 30.
Q Will the election plank be development or hindutva?
A We are going to the people with our development report card. In every assembly segment, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the people are beneficiaries of central schemes, be it toilets, gas connection, electricity, ration, free health insurance or the free Covid-19 vaccines. It is now the party’s responsibility to take this message to every home and convert the support into votes. Hindutva is cultural nationalism and it has been part of our ideology since the Jan Sangh days and we do not need elections to push forward our ideology. Hindutva is not communalism. We honour the likes of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Shishunala Sharif and Ibrahim Sutar, who are Muslims. But the Congress patronises the 'tukde tukde' gang. There is a big difference between what the Congress and the BJP patronise as role models.
Q Hindutva is considered a political tool to push through your ideology.
A No. We do not subscribe to extremism or resort to force. We push through our ideology within the framework of democracy. We have faith in the ballot and not bullets, but the leftists neither have faith in the ballot or the Indian Constitution. We go to people and place our ideology before them. The fact that we are in power shows there is acceptance of our ideology among the people.
Q B.S. Yediyurappa is the last of the mass leaders in the state. Is BJP relying on him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the elections?
A Modi is a blessing to our party and country. And Yediyurappa has taken up the responsibility of ensuring the party’s victory in the polls though he himself is not contesting this time. We will certainly benefit from his able guidance. The party is going to the polls under Basavaraj Bommai’s leadership as he is our chief minister. No two leaders are the same.
Q Has Yediyurappa announcing his son Vijayendra’s candidature from Shikarpura embarrassed the party?
A In the BJP we follow a system to pick the candidates. Even Yediyurappa is on the parliamentary board that finalises the tickets. The state committee only recommends the names and the decision of the parliament board is binding.
Q The BJP, known for its Lingayat-centric politics, now seems to be trying to reduce its dependance on one community. Have you succeeded?
A There is no doubt that the Lingayat community has supported the BJP in a big way. But, it is wrong to say other communities have not. Our ideology is not casteism, but nationalism that unites all.
Q Karnataka is ruled by caste-based politics. Can you overlook this reality?
A Once we stabilise, we can think of social justice and equal representation. In Gujarat, too, we faced allegations that only the Patel community enjoyed power. Slowly, we changed the rules of the game. In Karnataka, too, all communities will get power and justice.
