THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the BJP’s Jana Raksha Yatra scheduled to draw to a close on Tuesday, the saffron party for the first time has emerged as a redoubtable force on the state’s political landscape, attaining the stature of the main Opposition party. Since the yatra started from Payyannur in Kannur on October 3, it has been attracting shrill criticism from both the ruling CPM and the main Opposition Congress.
BJP chief Amit Shah’s last-minute decision to give the Pinarayi leg of yatra a miss and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath’s bid to portray Kerala in a poor light had pushed the party on the defensive. But as the yatra culminates on Tuesday, the BJP state leadership has had the last laugh as it could boost the morale of party workers who were having a tough time following the private medical college scam which had left the party tottering.
Post-scam, the yatra proved a lifeline and helped galvanise the rank and file to do the groundwork for the Lok Sabha polls due in 2019. Moreover, it has been able to convince the party cadre the BJP has a strong mass base across the state which cannot be decimated by the LDF or UDF.Even as it braved criticism on multiple fronts - the apparent bid to create communal polarisation and bringing leaders from other states who sought to paint an unflattering image of Kerala being the most damning - there is no mistaking the fact the yatra managed to evoke a tremendous response even in the hostile terrain of Kannur, a traditional CPM stronghold.
The CPM’s directive to party cadre to keep shops and commercial establishments
closed during the yatra’s journey through Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s native Pinarayi village has also become a talking point while pointing fingers at the Marxists’ political intolerance.
“The CPM brass which speaks of protecting political plurality had gone to the extent of reaching out to each and every household in Pinarayi to persuade the people to stay indoors. They asked the traders to down shutters. But defying the diktat, several hundred people came out of their homes to see the yatra and wish it success,” BJP state general secretary M T Ramesh said.
Ramesh said the unprovoked criticism from Oommen Chandy against the yatra clearly showed how unsettling it had turned out to be even for Congressmen. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s interpretation Shah had kept off the yatra’s Pinarayi leg as he was terrified of foraying into the Communist citadel helped to further strengthen the charge the CPM was not allowing political opponents to function freely.
According to BJP Intellectual cell convener TG Mohandas, the confidence of the workers was further boosted with Shah attending the valedictory function.”The yatra had an electrifying effect on the cadre. It has literally turned out to be a build-up for the Lok Sabha polls due in little over a year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the LDF Government’s surgical strike on the main Opposition UDF by unsettling heavyweights like Oommen Chandy by framing criminal cases including rape charges has pushed the entire UDF onto the the back foot. BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekhararan said Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala who had ridiculed the yatra as a ‘mourning procession ‘ has found himself and his party mourning over the loss of face.
As the BJP leadership is fully engaged in the Jana Raksha Yatra they had not been able to cash in on the UDF ‘s abysmal fall. Once the yatra is over, their entire efforts will be focused on seizing the opportunity to emerge as the main Opposition at the cost of the Congress.