Eat, Sing, Sleep: BJP-JDS MLAs Resort to Slumber Protest in Assembly Against 'Corrupt Siddaramaiah'

Move over hitting the streets. The BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka have hit the floor. Both parties staged a sleep-in protest inside the Karnataka Assembly overnight, demanding a detailed discussion in the House on the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). They allege that the allotments involve plots given to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife.

They also allege that the ruling Congress government is dodging the Rs 180 crore Valmiki Corporation illegal money transfer issue in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly.

While Delhi and Punjab, too, have witnessed such protests, the instances are highest in Karnataka’s Vidhan Soudha. The trend started with the BJP in 2016 and it has since become quite fashionable for Karnataka’s political parties to spend the night in the Well of the House as a way to protest against issues.

The latest night-long sit-in saw all MLAs and MLCs of the BJP and JD-S) dressed in nightwear and carrying their bedding into the House. They later lay on the green carpet inside the Legislature Assembly Hall to continue their overnight protest against the Siddaramaiah government.

Videos were posted by social media handles of the BJP and JD(S), showing the MLAs sitting, chatting, or sleeping in the Well of the House. Some were carrying placards and shouting slogans.

Having arranged dinner comprising rice, sambar, curd, and a chicken and mutton dish, the legislators ate within the premises and continued to spend their time singing songs condemning the Siddaramaiah rule.

“This is going to be an ongoing protest. We will continue these overnight protests until the Congress debates the scams that have been taking place during their governance and it is brought to a logical end,” said Leader of Opposition R Ashok to News18.

Armed with a small cymbal in hand, Karnataka BJP chief and Shikaripura MLA BY Vijayendra, Aurad MLA Prabhu Chavan on the tambourine and JD(S) leader SL Bhoje Gowda sang bhajans during the all-nighter criticising the Congress government. Ashok, Vijayendra, and other senior MLAs also walked through the corridors of the Vidhan Soudha shouting anti-Congress slogans until they finally assembled inside the House to rest for the day.

LoP R Ashok said that when the BJP brought an adjournment motion regarding the alleged Rs 4,000 crore loot in the MUDA scam, “the government was scared and was running away from discussion. They have passed key bills including the finance bill without discussion. This is a government of cowards; they don’t have the courage to respond to MUDA allegations in the House. If they have any shame or self-esteem, they should allow the debate.”

First Sleep-In Protest Led by BJP in 2016

The Karnataka Assembly first saw a sleep-in protest in 2016 during Siddaramaiah’s first term as Chief Minister. The protest by the BJP at the time was to seek a proper investigation or CBI probe into the suicide of police officer SP Ganapathy, who had allegedly named state minister KJ George in a video before his death. The Congress at the time had ordered a judicial inquiry, which the BJP said was not enough and sought a probe by a central agency.

George, who was the home minister and later was made urban development minister, found himself embroiled in the controversy when Ganapathy, a Deputy Superintendent, shot a video in his police uniform and later was found dead in a lodge in Kodagu. The DYSP was already under investigation on charges of corruption and extrajudicial killings. He accused George of harassing him. In 2019, the CBI gave George a clean chit in the case.

A Different Kind of Floor Test in 2019

Three years later, in 2019, the BJP once again resorted to an overnight protest inside the Assembly against the delay in the floor test of then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy after 18 lawmakers resigned and withdrew their support from the JDS-Congress coalition government. Following the resignation of 18 dissident MLAs (13 from Congress, three from JD-S, and two Independent MLAs), the 13-month-old coalition government slumped into a minority.

Then BJP state president BS Yediyurappa called for an overnight dharna inside the Assembly seeking a floor test against Kumaraswamy. On edge, the Assembly was adjourned, leaving the BJP fuming and stating its leaders would not leave the premises until the trust vote was taken up. Later, the coalition government lost the vote of confidence, ending the three-week-long political drama in Karnataka.

Congress Joins the Trend in 2022

In 2022, it was the turn of the Congress to resort to slumber politics. The Congress MLAs demanded the resignation of then BJP minister KS Eshwarappa for saying that the “saffron flag might become the national flag in the future”.

Eshwarappa had made the remark that the country was debating and discussing Hindutva and Hindu ideology and at the same time critics would laugh when the BJP said that a Ram Mandir would be constructed in Ayodhya. “Aren’t we building it now? In the same way, sometime in the future, it may be possible that in 100, 150, or 200 years, the bhagwa (saffron) flag may become our national flag,” he said.

The Congress raised a red flag over disrespecting the national flag and sought the immediate sacking of Eshwarappa. BJP Chief Minister at the time, Basavaraj Bommai, came to the rescue of his colleague saying his statement was being “misunderstood and misinterpreted” and his statements were not against the law. Bommai called it the Congress’s “wrong projection” to gain political mileage.

Eshwarappa later quit as minister when another controversy broke out over his allegations of corruption and the death by suicide of a contractor.