BJP sweeps Dakshina Kannada, Udupi as Cong fails to check vigilantism, moral policing

Mangaluru: The Congress, it appears, was washed away from the coast not just by a Modi and Hindutva wave, but also the people’s dejection at its failure to rein in the anti-social elements and stop the harassment of innocents as it had promised.

The last election the party won from seven of the eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada and from four out of five in Udupi as it lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for its moral policing and vigilantism in the coastal region and promised to make things right if elected to power.

But these elections the Bharatiya Janata Party has succeeded in making a clean sweep of Udupi and winning seven of the eight seats in Dakshina Kannada, reportedly out of frustration at its failure to keep its promise.

“The people had supported the Congress the last time thinking their problems would end. But nothing changed and minorities did not get protection. And when cases were booked against the innocent, Congress leaders did not act,” noted  former Mayor and Muslim Sanghatanegala Okkuta president, K Ashraf, adding that in some places the minorities preferred the Bharatiya Janata Party as they were unhappy with the Congress.

Progressive thinkers too agree that this could be one of the reasons. “It is a fact that things did not change after the Congress came to power. Moral policing and attacks on minorities continued, and in fact increased under it,” said one of them.