Their yellow and red stripped flags aflutter, members of a Kannada cultural outfit organised a Chakka Jam in support of the farmers’ protest on 6 February. Unlike the left leaning farmers’ unions which had blocked roads across the state, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike’s (KRV) protests had a marked difference.
Here was a militant Kannada nationalist organisation, a fervent member of the political right-wing in India, splitting with its elder cousin, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which dominates the national right-wing spectrum. Even more embarrassing since the BJP, which promulgated the new farm laws in Delhi, is also in power in Karnataka.
But is the KRV’s breaking of ranks with the BJP just a storm in the teacup? Possibly not. A key reason being that KRV has more than 60 lakh members in Karnataka.
But, why did KRV part ways with the BJP even though they two have shared an amicable relationship in the past?
