One of the tragedies of Indian democracy is the repeated failure of the Opposition Party to perform its primary duty — which is to question, expose and challenge the Government of the day.
Unfortunately, this failure is visible even in Karnataka.
For long stretches, the BJP in Karnataka appears disengaged. There are no sustained protests, no coordinated public campaigns, no relentless press briefings and very little effort to keep citizens informed about the failures of the ruling government.
Ironically, the BJP could learn a few lessons from the Congress.
When the Congress sat in the Opposition during the previous BJP government, it displayed remarkable political agility. Remember the ‘40% commission government’ campaign?
Congress leaders plastered cities with posters, held aggressive press conferences and even distributed ‘PayCM’ QR code stickers to symbolically highlight corruption allegations.
Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar got down to the streets and converted accusations into political momentum. The narrative stuck. The BJP government was branded corrupt and voters threw it out.
Today, the roles are reversed. Yet the BJP seems unsure how to play the Opposition, even though it has ample political ammunition.
From the erstwhile Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site controversy involving the CM, to the visible friction between the CM and the Dy. CM, from the financial mess in the State to administrative failures in CM’s own home town, Mysuru, the issues are plentiful.
But the BJP is largely silent.
Take Mysuru, for example. By now, the BJP should have held a ‘Mysuru Chalo’ protest.
If there is one city where the BJP should be politically hyperactive, it is Mysuru. This is not just another district headquarters. Mysuru is the Chief Minister’s political home turf, the cultural capital of Karnataka and one of the State’s most important cities after Bengaluru.
The Chief Minister represents a constituency here. His son is an MLC from the region. Of the five Assembly Constituencies in Mysuru city, four are represented by Congress MLAs.
If ever there was a place for the Opposition to test the Government’s performance, it is here. Yet the BJP appears largely absent.
To be fair, BJP leader R. Ashoka’s intervention in the KSIC land issue did create pressure and eventually led to corrective action. But one isolated success cannot be a substitute for a sustained Opposition strategy.
In the past two-and-a-half years, there have been serious concerns about land grabbing and questionable developments around environmentally sensitive areas such as the foot of Chamundi Hill.
Yet the BJP has not mounted any sustained public campaign on the issue.
Lakes are being encroached upon, creating the potential for urban flooding similar to what Bengaluru has been experiencing. Again, the Opposition response has been muted.
There have been significant drug seizures and rising concerns about narcotics factories in Mysuru. Yet this has not become a major political issue for BJP.
Then there is the proposed Greater Mysuru development plan. Critics say certain leaders bought land for cheap and then came up with the Greater Mysuru plan to convert this land and turn it into layouts before they lose power. Hence, there is no blueprint for long-term public transport or water sustainability.
Then the obvious question: If the Mysuru City Corporation already struggles to manage 89 square kilometres, how will it administer a city nearly four times larger?
In spite of these obvious problems, the BJP has not forced a serious public debate on these issues, let alone speak about them in the Assembly.
Even in the matter of MUDA controversy where the CM’s family members were involved, the BJP went easy.
Then MUDA itself was scrapped and replaced with Mysuru Development Authority (MDA).
But the BJP MLA T.S. Srivatsa has alleged corruption even in the MDA, suggesting that the name may have changed, but the system remains the same. Yet the State BJP leadership is quiet!
An effective Opposition is supposed to act as the voice of citizens against the ruling government instead they are self-serving and performative — loud, silly and ineffective.
Even the BJP at the Centre did nothing while it was in the Opposition for ten long years during the UPA rule.
Every big scandal during the UPA Government, be it the Jan Lokpal movement, the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam or the Vadra scandal, all of them were exposed by the media, not the BJP.
The BJP simply hijacked the issues, piggy-backed on it, capitalised on public anger and rode that momentum to power in 2014.
Today, if the BJP in Karnataka continues to remain politically dormant and fails in its duty as the Opposition party, then it shall remain as the Opposition in Karnataka again in 2028.
This raises an uncomfortable question: Is that why the BJP’s Central leadership appears quite comfortable allowing H.D. Kumaraswamy to emerge as the principle challenger to the Congress in Karnataka? Or does the State BJP simply lack leaders capable of leading that fight?
Either way, democracy suffers when the Opposition sleeps. And right now, in Karnataka, the Opposition seems to be ‘manku’… a Kannada word that means dull.
e-mail: vikram@starofmysore.com
This post was published on March 14, 2026 6:05 pm