Bengaluru blast, pro-Pak slogans have become BJP vs Siddaramaiah issue

At a time when the bomb blast at a Bengaluru café has left residents terrorised, the BJP has found it an opportune moment to target the Siddaramaiah government. The saffron party claims that the blast and the alleged chanting of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (Hail Pakistan) outside the Karnataka Vidhana Soudha recently are results of the Congress government’s appeasement of religious minorities.

Blame game

The BJP has labelled the blast at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Café as a law and order issue, placing the blame squarely on the Congress-led state government.

In its defence, the ruling Congress argues that the blast indicates a failure on the part of central intelligence agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which traditionally monitor and combat terrorist activities.

The Congress has accused the BJP of wasting no time to politicise the blast despite its sensitive nature. The presence of Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and Karnataka BJP chief at the hospital where the blast victims were being treated on Friday have raised eyebrows.

The BJP had also termed the explosion at Rameshwaram Café a “terror attack” even before the police ascertained it as a “blast caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED)”.

The party also insists that the identity of the person who allegedly chanted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan outside the Vidhana Soudha on February 27 after the victory of Congress’ Rajya Sabha candidate Syed Nasir Hussain has been “confirmed” by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) even though the FSL or the state government is yet to confirm the same.

Congress on the back foot

The latest incidents have put the Congress – which had trained its guns on the Centre on the alleged disparity in tax devolution and allotment of central funds to the state while accusing the BJP of propagating central schemes and peddling ‘soft Hindutva’ – on the back foot.

Prior to the blast, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was being lauded for leading from the front and encouraging other southern states to call out the Centre’s “step-motherly attitude” towards them in dividing taxes. His deputy DK Shivakumar, on the other hand, was acting as a trouble-shooter for the Congress in various states including Telangana and Himachal Pradesh.

The BJP, which initially seemed to lag behind in strategies to match those of Siddaramaiah, now seems to have grabbed the slogan and the blast incidents as issues to get back at the Congress.

Did BJP jump the gun?

Political experts say the BJP’s eagerness to twist the explosion into a political issue was palpable when party leaders including national general secretary BL Santhosh called it an IED blast even before police confirmed the same.

“First, slogans in support of Pakistan inside Vidhanasoudha and now a low-intensity IED blast inside a bustling restaurant… Bengaluru and Karnataka are paying a huge price for electing a Govt which prides itself on extreme appeasement at every turn… High time society understands this,” Santhosh tweeted.

Similarly, even before any Congress leaders could visit the hospital where the injured were admitted, BJP leaders rushed to the place. Interestingly, Governor Gehlot visited the hospital and inquired about the condition of the victims along with the BJP state president Vijayendra, opposition Leader R Ashok, and Union Minister Prahlad Joshi. Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar visited the injured later in the night while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah paid a visit the next day.

BJP trying to polarise voters: Congress

A state minister, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Federal that while the governor’s visit to the blast site or hospital cannot be questioned as he is 'first citizen' of the state, his visit with BJP leaders has raised eyebrows. “The governor is a constitutional head and he has to look at every political party impartially. But the Karnataka governor’s visit to the hospital with BJP leaders and a Union minister is a surprising move,” he said.

The minister said that BJP was trying to politicise the incident and create a narrative that Congress-ruled state had law and order issues.

“Their statements say that there is a failure in maintaining law and order in the state and the IT city. If they say so, the movement of terror suspects and such organisations are being watched by the central agencies including NIA and IB,” he said asking why these central agencies failed to provide intelligence on the attack.

“Yes, the state police have to watch out for these types of activities, but the central government has an equal responsibility too,” he added.

The minister alleged that the BJP by politicising these issues was trying to polarise votes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Reacting to the BJP’s allegations that such incidents were a fallout of the “Congress government’s appeasement of minorities”, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah questioned if the same allegations applied to the saffron party which was in power when the Mangalore cooker bomb blast happened.

“A bomb exploded during the BJP government too in the state. What did they do when the cooker bomb exploded in Mangalore? Was it due to appeasement even then?" he asked. "I condemn the explosive incident. Politics should not be done on such incidents," he added.

No question of protecting anyone: Siddaramaiah

BJP state president Vijayendra claims that the FSL has already determined the voice behind the pro-Pakistan slogans, but the state government was trying to cover up the entire incident by “portraying anti-social elements as innocent."

Responding to the allegations, Siddaramaiah said there was no question of protecting anyone and that strict actions will be taken against the offenders.

The state police are also questioning seven people in the incident, he said.

Taking a dig at the BJP, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the party’s accusations regarding ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were only a manifestation of its exasperation on losing the Rajya Sabha polls in the state.

“Frustrated and demoralised by their resounding defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka, BJP leaders are peddling their favorite set of lowly lies of Pakistan Zindabad slogans being raised by supporters of Congress MP-elect, Nasir Hussain,” he posted on X.

“Not only is this an absolutely false bogey, but this is also the extreme sense of exasperation that exists in their perverted mindsets against anyone who belongs to a minority community, particularly a Muslim Minority. They are doing the same thing to our Sikh brothers in the farm stir, calling them Khalistanis. A BJP MP from Karnataka recently again called all farmers Khalistanis. They do the same to the Christian Minority by raising a fake bogey of conversion," he added.