Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Kerala twice over a fortnight indicates BJP’s renewed push in order to strengthen its foothold in the southern state.
The RSS and BJP are working with the Hindu-Christian support base to corner the “fundamental forces” of Leftist-Communist regime in the state including banned outfit such as People’s Federation of India (PFI), according to the senior BJP and RSS functionaries in Kerala.
The reception line-up for the Prime Minister in Kochi had leaders from communities including Dalit and Christian. The reception community included senior leaders and members of Syro Malabar, Jacobite and Orthodox Christian communities among others, News18 has learnt.
As long as the political battle is concerned, the senior leaders of the BJP from Kerala said the Sangh Parivar’s ideological battle against the Leftists have come a long way. Kerala is the last Red fort as the RSS dethroned them in Tripura and helped Mamata Banerjee to decimate them in West Bengal.
K Surendran, chief of Kerala BJP unit, said, “BJP in Kerala is getting stronger with PM Modi’s special attention. There has been a huge thrust on strengthening the organisation and reaching out to people. We have to oust the party from the government, which harbours organisations like PFI. They are threat to national security.”
The Sneha Yatra, which started in December, fetched BJP “positive” responses. “We covered total 8 lakhs Christian households, and we did not experience or see negative approach from any household there. The Christian community also supports us and they are joining us in great numbers,” Surendran added.
Not Just a Political or Religious Outreach
The BJP has been trying to make inroads into many southern states. They outreach programmes took place in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh too. However, over the past year, PM Modi has taken keen interest in Kerala.
The RSS in Kerala has always been a force with good organisation, even though the strength never got translated to seats in the last Parliamentary elections. Surendran, however, said the BJP, in 2019, had over 34% vote share in four Lok Sabha seats out of total 20 seats in the state.
PM’s outreach in Kerala is not only through political or religious ventures, but it also has a developmental approach. During his two-day trip, he inaugurated three major infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 4,000 crore at Kochi, which include New Dry Dock (NDD) at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF) of CSL and LPG Import Terminal of Indian Oil Corporation Limited at Puthuvypeen.
A senior RSS functionary said Kerala has witnessed most violent clashes between the RSS volunteers and the Communist cadres. “Many of our volunteers were brutally killed in the state. But they are still fighting. The state has ancient Indian tradition. But with the current political dispensation’s active support, it has been Islamised. The state’s active connection with some middle-eastern countries, the smuggling and laundering cases have risen over the past few years. Getting a nationalist government in Kerala is needed for India’s sovereignty and security,” said the functionary.
The CPM leaders, however, dismisses such claims. A senior CPM MP from Kerala said, “They (BJP) are doing this divisive politics everywhere. They have some currency in the northern part of the country, but people in Kerala know the reality. The state has diverse society and people live here peacefully. Our government has developed the state so much that it is one of the best in the country in terms of education and health infrastructure. The people will not fall for the BJP here”.
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