Enthused by an impressive increase of percentage of polled votes in the 2016 Assembly Elections, BJP chief Amit Shah is making a determined effort to expand the party’s support base in the southern state of Kerala.
Shah’s predecessors and party’s mentor, RSS, have been unsuccessfully trying to carve out a political niche in a state for a very long time, where the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) or a CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) governments have been alternating in power for over four decades.
Shah, with full backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has crafted an aggressive strategy to frontally challenge the Left parties trying to cash in on the anti-incumbency that is likely to build up against the ruling coalition in months to come before the next Lok Sabha election in 2019 or earlier.
With this objective in focus, Shah launched on October 3 the party’s 15-day-long Jan Raksha Yatra (protect people rally) from the northern district of Kannur. It will culminate in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The Yatra, ostensibly launched to highlight what the BJP calls the ruling CPM’s ‘murder politics’, is primarily aimed at exposing the state government’s discriminatory policies towards Hindus. The BJP has been alleging for a very long time that Hindus have been the targets of the CPM’s violent tactics.
Meticulously planned, the BJP has sought to challenge state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by choosing to start the Yatra from Payyannur that is adjacent to his hometown Pinarayi in Kannur known for decades of political violence.
Top BJP leaders and Union ministers have been asked to relay walk along with party workers from across the state for two weeks to register its presence in the state and display its strength targeting ‘Jihadi Red terror’ of the Left front government. The BJP is targeting the uncommitted voter and middle class that is looking for a political change.
Roping in of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the second day of the Yatra is a clear signal that Hinduatva is high on the agenda. Saffron-clad Yogi talked of Love Jihad in his speeches and held the state government responsible for thousands of deaths in state-run hospitals asking to learn from Uttar Pradesh.
Yogi’s utterings and the BJP chief staying away from the Yatra when it was to pass through the Pinarayi’s hometown has already given a negative media publicity and created a controversy.
The staying away of the BJP’s powerful ally, Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, in the Yatra has been a serious setback for the party as its Hindutva plank has considerably weakened.
While it is too early to assess the impact of the ongoing political exercise, the BJP’s political journey in Kerala is going to be tough and arduous. It is highly doubtful that the BJP’s Hindi heartland strategy is going to accrue rich political dividends in Kerala in the next Lok Sabha election.
Dr Satish Misra
Senior Fellow at Delhi-based think-tank, Observer Research Foundation
drsatishmisra@gmail.com
(Ravi Shankar is travelling. His column will be back on October 15).