KOTTAYAM: As elections to the state assembly nears, the state leadership of the BJP has commenced its efforts to woo the Nair Service Society (NSS), one of the biggest caste-based socio-cultural organisations in the state.
On Monday, BJP state president K Surendran shared on his Facebook page an editorial article that appeared in the latest edition of NSS mouthpiece ‘Service’, which thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their tweets on Mannam Jayanthi this year. According to Surendran, NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair had also sent letters to Modi and Shah, thanking them for bringing the philosophies espoused by Mannathu Padmanabhan, the founder acharya of NSS, to international attention through their tweets.
The BJP leadership presumably considered the article an opportunity to build a bridge between the NSS and the saffron party, which has maintained an equidistance from all political parties so far. Besides, the party also wants to counter reports that AICC’s decision to pass the reins of its assembly election campaigning to Oommen Chandy was taken with the consent of the NSS leadership. According to sources, Surendran has plans to try and bring Modi to the NSS headquarters, if the latter comes to Alappuzha to inaugurate an NH bypass there.
Meanwhile, dismissing all speculations, the NSS leadership clarified that the Society’s note of thanks to the Centre was not political in nature. “This is for the first time that India’s Prime Minister and Home Minister remembered NSS founder Mannathu Padmanabhan and his contributions to the society on his jayanthi. NSS considers this a great honour. There is no need to see any politics here. We will continue to stay equidistant from all political parties,” Sukumaran Nair said.
Though the NSS leadership usually has a good rapport with a few BJP leaders such as P P Mukundan and P S Sreedharan Pillai, it has never showed any sign of political support to the BJP. The leadership has also mostly ignored attempts by the BJP national leadership to gain its support.