BSY’s second lunch date with Dalits who fed him, will be at his home

BJP leader Yeddyurappa who is courting Dalits in Karnataka though gastronomy, will invite 27 families to his house in Bengaluru for lunch This is his reciprocity gesture to the families that fed him Like Amit Shah, Yeddyurappa has taken the Dalit Samavadas seriously Dalits have emerged as the largest caste group in Karnataka

BJP State president B S Yeddyurappa who has been in news for breaking bread in Dalit homes during his 36-day Statewide Janasampark Abhiyan sojourn, is all set to make a grand statement. He has hit upon a reciprocity idea to upstage his political opponents, who have branded his Dalit Samvadas as nothing but a poll gimmick. 

The Lingayat strongman has decided to host lunch to all the Dalit families that had welcomed him into their homes and fed him for last one and half months. In doing so, he wants to become the first political leader in the country to be reciprocating the hospitality shown by the Dalit families.

Using gastronomy as an excuse for political gain has been a tried and tested method during the run up to elections. All parties, including the BJP have understood that it’s not what you eat, but where you eat -- and that it is the Dalit community that holds the key to power. From Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mahayatra’ to our own Kumaranna’s ‘Grama Vastavya’, all the top political leaders have pulled this stunt. 

However, it was BJP’s ‘Chanakya’ Amit Shah who struck the real chord with the oppressed community. His lunch/breakfast/dinner dates with the oppressed communities contributed largely for his party’s landslide victory during the Uttar Pradesh elections earlier this year. The BJP had managed to swallow up most of the Dalit votes at Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party’s expense.  

It’s apparent that Yeddyurappa is merely aping Shah. But for his bad luck, he jinxed his very first rendezvous with a Dalit family, when he was caught eating food brought from outside, despite a home cooked meal readily available.
In a bid to undo his faux pas and to exhibit his “graciousness”, Yeddyurappa has struck upon this idea of throwing his home open to the community members who represent Karnataka’s largest voter population.

Yeddyurappa will be inviting around 27 couples/families for this lunch date, which will be scheduled in the third or fourth week of July. During the Abhiyan, where he is said to have travelled over 10,500 km, Yeddyurappa had visited 27 districts and held 27 Dalit Samvadas  (meetings in Dalit colonies) His first visit to a Dalit house was in Tumakuru on May 18 (when he courted the controversy) and concluded with Vijayapura on June 28.