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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Fractured Crown

Between Siddaramaiah’s grip on power and Shivakumar’s restless ambition, the Karnataka Congress is trapped in a succession spiral. Karnataka Karnataka today has two chief ministers - one by office, the other by expectation. The power tussle between Siddaramaiah and his deputy, D.K. Shivakumar, has slipped so completely into the open that the Congress’s ritual denials sound like political farce. A whispered ‘understanding’ after the 2023 victory that each would get the CM’s post after...

Fractured Crown

Between Siddaramaiah’s grip on power and Shivakumar’s restless ambition, the Karnataka Congress is trapped in a succession spiral. Karnataka Karnataka today has two chief ministers - one by office, the other by expectation. The power tussle between Siddaramaiah and his deputy, D.K. Shivakumar, has slipped so completely into the open that the Congress’s ritual denials sound like political farce. A whispered ‘understanding’ after the 2023 victory that each would get the CM’s post after two-and-a-half years has hardened into a public confrontation between a chief minister determined to finish five years and a deputy increasingly unwilling to wait. The recent breakfast meeting between the two men at Siddaramaiah’s residence was presented as a truce where the ‘high command’ was invoked as the final arbiter. “There are no differences between us,” Siddaramaiah insisted, twice for emphasis. Few were convinced and soon, Shivakumar was again hinting darkly at change. For weeks, Shivakumar’s loyalists have been holding meetings, mobilising legislators and making pilgrimages to Delhi to get the Congress high command to honour its promise. They insist that the Congress leadership agreed to a rotational chief ministership in 2023 and that November 2025 was always meant to mark Shivakumar’s ascent. The high command, for its part, has perfected the art of strategic vagueness by neither confirming nor denying the pact. This suggests that the Congress does not merely hesitate to act against Siddaramaiah, but increasingly lacks the capacity to do so. From the outset of his second innings, Siddaramaiah has given no signal of easing aside. As he approaches January 2026, poised to overtake D. Devaraj Urs as Karnataka’s longest-serving chief minister, the symbolism is unmistakable. The mantle of social justice politics that Urs once embodied now firmly sits on Siddaramaiah’s shoulders. And it is this social coalition that shields him. His fortress is AHINDA - minorities, backward classes and Dalits. Leaked figures from the unreleased caste census suggest that these groups together approach or exceed two-thirds of the state’s population. Lingayats and Vokkaligas, once electorally dominant, are rendered numerical minorities in this arithmetic. Siddaramaiah governs not merely as a Congress leader, but as the putative custodian of Karnataka’s demographic majority. That claim is reinforced through policy. Minority scholarships have been revived, contractor quotas restored, residential schools expanded. More than Rs. 42,000 crore has been earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Kurubas, his own community, have been pitched for Scheduled Tribe status, with careful assurances that their elevation will not disadvantage others. DK Shivakumar brings organisational muscle, financial clout and control over the Vokkaliga heartland. In electoral campaigns, these are formidable assets. But in a confrontation with a leader who embodies a 60–70 percent social coalition, they are blunt instruments. The Congress high command understands this equation, even if it publicly pretends otherwise. It also remembers, uneasily, what Siddaramaiah did the last time his authority was constrained. In 2020, when the Congress–JD(S) coalition collapsed after 16 MLAs defected to Mumbai,13 of them hailed from Siddaramaiah’s camp. At the time, he held the post of coordination committee chairman. Instead, he emerged as the principal beneficiary of collapse, returning as Leader of the Opposition with a tighter grip on the party. If the Congress high command could not punish him then, it is doubtful it can coerce him now. Shivakumar’s predicament is thus more tragic than tactical. He is not battling a rival alone, but an entire political structure built to outlast him. The promised coronation looks increasingly like a mirage drifting just ahead of a man condemned to keep walking. For the Congress, the cost of this paralysis is already visible. A government elected on guarantees and governance is consumed by succession. The party’s authority is dissolving while its factions harden. The Congress returned to power in Karnataka after years in the wilderness, only to re-enact the same leadership dysfunction that has crippled it elsewhere. Regardless of whether Siddaramaiah survives this storm, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Congress cannot survive the slow corrosion of its command in one of the few states it holds today.

Goa’s taxi owners remember late Ratan Tata

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Goa’s taxi owners remember late Ratan Tata

Since his passing on 9 October 2024, tributes, memories and anecdotes have filled our newspapers as well as social media recalling chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata’s contribution to Indian business, his vision as well as his support and encouragement to many a start-up, and many more. Yet, for this writer, the tribute paid by the taxi owners’ association in the village of Benaulim stands out. The Tata Group runs one of India’s finest luxury properties, The Taj Exotica, in this village. The property, built in the 1990s became a major source of employment for the locals of the village and the spill over benefitted the taxi drivers who transport tourists back and forth to this hotel.


It is to their credit that the taxi drivers, nameless faces in the tourist business, perhaps pooled funds to put out an advertisement of remembrance and gratitude in the local O Heraldo newspaper thanking the late Mr Tata for giving the locals job opportunities, and a chance to improve their lives.


Clearly, Tata touched the lives of many ordinary ways. It is a well-known fact around the world that hiring locals for jobs encourages the economy, and in the process creates hundreds of indirect jobs. These may not always be the high-paying jobs but they do sustain local communities, and create job opportunities that sustain families. In addition, these jobs create a sense of loyalty to an employer, and opportunities for locals who cannot otherwise travel for jobs outside their homes or state, and also a sense of fulfilment in locals, many of whom may not be highly educated.


Goa is hugely dependent on tourism for its revenues. About 17 percent of the GSDP comes directly from tourism, and 35 percent of jobs are tourism-related. Most of the better paying tourism jobs are in the hotels but it’s a small pool that may not always fulfil the requirements of the village communities. Media reports suggest that 7 million tourists visited the state in 2022 which is known for its beaches, temples that incorporate elements of Indo-Portuguese influence, and churches, and even restaurants that offer a variety of global cuisines.


Tourism has also brought a host of challenges, and one only has to only open the local newspapers to see the many hotspots where environmental issues and tourism intersect. Of late, villages in North Goa have protested against loud music that is played well into the night, and which is affecting the residents, especially the sick and elderly. Another controversy surrounds the music festival Sundance, the organisers of which are scouting for a new locale in the south Goa where locals here too have protested. In the north, public hearings by government bodies hear villagers who are against the resumption of mining as it will affect water bodies as well as religious heritage.


Goa has one of the highest unemployment rates estimated at in the region of 13 percent, thrice that of the national average. It would definitely benefit many locals if corporates employed locally. As the tourist season starts, many will be making a beeline for what is called the sunshine state. However, the rains are playing spoilsport of sorts with thunder showers that cause traffic jams and some flooding too. It’s grey skies through the day and occasional respite from the hot and muggy mornings.


(The author is a senior journalist based in Goa. Views personal.)

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