Love jihad a priority, not roads or drains: Nalin Kumar Kateel to BJP workers

Bangalore was called the Garden City of India. The past tense is being used, because with potholed roads, bad traffic, flooding, continuous construction activity, and garbage collection issues, Bengaluru, as it is called today, is more of a nightmare for those who are used to the calm ambience a couple of decades ago.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bengaluru in November 2022, the residents of the city used social media to appeal to the PM for better infrastructure in the city. Pictures of potholed roads, bad traffic, flooding, and various other issues that Bengaluru had faced during the past year were highlighted.

Also read: Bengaluru rains: Roads flooded, cars damaged; IMD issues yellow alert

“Dear Modi ji, the glory of Bangalore is spoiled by the poor performance of BBMP and politicians. Every ward in Bangalore has one or the other issue related to infrastructure or basic amenities. We are fed up with never-ending traffic woes and civic issues. Your intervention needed,” one Twitter user said.

Children appealed to PM Modi for better infrastructure

Other users wrote about the case of school students having to miss classes due to a two-hour wait in traffic to get to school. The children had taken out a candlelight vigil and appealed for better traffic management. “Modi Ji.. please do visit this stretch of Bangalore. We have here the best schools in India but the worst roads and basic infrastructure. Kids are spending three hours daily stuck in traffic jams,” another user appealed.

“The only advantage of Modi coming to Bangalore is that all the roads around KSR railway station were fixed within a week which was overdue for years!” went one tweet.

Kateel is unconcerned about roads, gutters, drains

But all these issues do not seem to be of any consequence to the BJP state president, Nalin Kumar Kateel. Speaking at the launch of ‘Booth Vijay Abhiyaan’ on Monday (January 2) to prepare the party for the forthcoming elections, he said the people of Karnataka should prioritise the issue of “love jihad” in this year’s Assembly elections, over concerns such as “road, gutter, drain and other small issues”.

The Congress party responded strongly to this, stating that “communal strife is used by BJP to hide its failures and corruption”.

Kateel said that the Centre’s action to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) had helped save the lives of many Hindu activists.

Also read: India pays no heed to urban planning — Bengaluru floods are a case in point

“So I told them not to talk about roads, gutters, drains, and other small issues. If the issue concerning your children’s lives — love jihad — has to be stopped, then we need the BJP,” he told his party workers.

The Karnataka Congress, forwarding a video of Kateel’s speech, tweeted, “the development of the state, employment, and education are minor issues! It’s shameful that BJP has asked its party workers not to talk about development, of which it has done little.”

Corruption and low accountability

A survey conducted by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy in 27 wards of the eight zones of Bengaluru in May 2022 showed the long-term civic problems plaguing the city, the public’s views on local governance, expectations from the upcoming election, and basic knowledge of city governance and politics.

A majority of the respondents expressed five main concerns: traffic, water, pedestrian infrastructure, garbage collection, and flooding. For slum dwellers, the non-availability of water was the biggest issue.

“Corruption. That is the only reason. Low accountability. The chief minister should know how to manage people (contractors) who have taken over BBMP. It’s a political and mafia issue,” RK Mishra, an urban expert and member of Bangalore Political Action Committee, a non-partisan citizen’s group, had told Hindustan Times.