Right & Left: BJP goes all-out to promote Kerala as ‘Modi’s Own Country’
Politicians disapprove of surprises. Upending Kerala’s binary bliss is a charismatic ideological interloper who is queering the pitch with a saffron surprise. The voting formula remains unchanged, however: netting male and female votes with the former calling the shots. Now women voters have given the communists and the Congress something to worry about. This time, across castes, classes and communities, the majority of them will be voting with a mind of their own.
The BJP attributes this change to Modi’s stature as a pro-woman prime minister who has launched myriad schemes for them. There is also campaign chemistry. Modi’s road show through Palghat was massive; women were in overwhelming presence in the crowds. “It was mass hysteria,” recalls Krishnakumar, the BJP candidate from Palakkad. “Women broke into tears upon seeing the prime minister like they do in temples.”
Even a large number of Muslim women favour the PM. Many of them are openly campaigning for BJP, even wearing hijabs; in Thrissur they hard-sell Suresh Gopi as the PM’s personal nominee.
But doesn’t BJP have a communal reputation? “Not in Kerala,” denies a young girl campaigner whose thattam (short head cover) causally covers her unruly hair. “Here, he is for us, the women.”
Many Muslim women, especially young, don’t wear hijab. If they must, they wind their dupattas around their head desultorily. Triple talaq is not a big deal, such instances are rare. But the UCC (Uniform Civil Code), which Muslim women expect, will be implemented is the lure of Modi. Muslims are mostly businessmen and the Sharia law in Kerala doesn’t allow the inheritance to be passed on to the daughter after the head of the family dies. This is resented by some fathers too, who have inducted their girls into the family firm.
Malappuram, a majority Muslim district specially created by Kerala’s first communist CM EMS Namboodiripad on sectarian lines, has changed its psychological demographics over the previous generation. The Gulf money has brought wealth and Malappuram women and girls sport trendy hairdos beneath their designer hijabs. The traditional polyester burqa is omnipresent but is mostly worn by women belonging to the poor Muslim class. But numerous Muslim households reject the conservative values the imams are ramming down the throats of their congregations.
All this by no means suggests that Kerala’s Muslim women have suddenly cast off their veil. In north Kerala especially, where the RSS and Muslim families have kept bloody vendettas going for decades, there is a murdered father, brother or son in many homes. Elsewhere, the communal divide is between Muslims and a section of Christians.
For decades Malayali women have been active stakeholders in the communist movement. Today they look prosperous at LDF campaign stops, resplendent in silk sarees and gold. At a road junction, one Marxist worker had a gold yantram (divine talisman around her neck). Make no mistake though: the BJP is promoting Kerala as Modi’s Own Country.
Is women’s vote bank splitting? The BJP vote share grew from 13% in 2011 to 15% to 18% now. The female ballot can get them within the 21% range to reach the critical point. Hindu women are the largest segment of Kerala’s women population and have significantly veered towards BJP from the other blocs. Hinduism has emerged from its secular chrysalis to become a matter of personal pride.
It’s morning in Palakkad and women dressed in traditional Mundus and veshtis are leaving with prasad and flowers. Kerala’s temples are old and protected by patriarchal trees, sticking to the traditional stone and wood architecture of the region; the earth paved with flagstones around the buildings.
Till a few years ago, it seemed ‘Dilli door ast’ was the BJP story as the ageing Bahadur Shah Zafar put it. For Keralites, the North was a faraway Jurassic land and Modi was a distant figure. In 2024, the BJP’s liege lord has finally landed in Kerala, and has a metaphorical kitchen cabinet ready for him. It is the taste of Malayali Hindutva, a flavour that will change the syncretic reputation of the Malayali forever. And it’s a fast and furious moveable feast.