Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan is the lone Kerala member in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
A senior BJP leader who rose through the ranks, Muraleedharan has his task cut out to make NDA’s presence felt in Kerala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The results are very important for him and his party, especially after the drubbing in the 2021 Kerala assembly elections.
In a freewheeling interaction with TNIE team as part of the ‘Express Dialogues’ series, Muraleedharan talks about a wide range of issues. Excerpts
You are the lone representative of Kerala in the Narendra Modi cabinet, and also in Parliament. With only two years to go for the general elections, this doesn’t send out the right message to Kerala voters...
I would certainly like to have more representation from Kerala in the government.
For that, the people of Kerala too have to decide. I would appeal to the people of Kerala to elect more members from BJP in the next elections to Parliament.
Kerala has not elected a single MP for BJP so far…
I don’t think it’s an impossible task to get electoral wins from Kerala, and that Kerala will turn its back towards BJP forever. When people felt there was a winning chance, they voted for BJP. O Rajagopal’s victory is one such example.
I can say the support for Narendra Modi across the state is somewhere between 30 to 45%. But see, a person who supports Narendra Modi does not support the candidate fielded by the party. In many constituencies, CPM and Congress field candidates who are experienced, who have been in the government, who have been MLAs, and who are ministers.
BJP can field, maybe, 15 to 20 such candidates. If we can find good candidates, we can overcome that problem and there is a chance for BJP in Kerala.
So it depends on the situation, the political scenario, and the candidates. In 2024, I’m sure we’ll be on a very good wicket.
One uniqueness of Kerala is its strong minority presence. Is this demographic factor what stops BJP from making its presence felt here?
BJP has formed governments in minority-dominated states, be it Goa, or the Northeastern states. I don’t think the minorities are per se against BJP. The Kerala situation is peculiar.
Whenever BJP has a winning chance, the other two fronts make a tacit understanding to see that BJP gets defeated. BJP is understood by the minorities not based on what BJP says or does, but by what others say about BJP.
So we need to have a direct outreach and we have been trying to do that, especially among the Christian community.
The problem with the Muslim community is that they have not taken a stand against the terrorist elements within that community.
I can say very definitely that within the Muslim community, some people have a sort of a soft corner towards the terrorist elements within, whereas the Christian community has never supported such terrorist groups.
The Christian community is quite completely willing to support the BJP.
Is it true that Suresh Gopi wants to quit the party?
I have not heard. These are all rumours. He himself said that he was happy to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Only 12 persons are selected once in six years from the 138 crore people. The nominated members enjoy a higher pedestal than the elected MPs because they are President’s nominees.
Will he be re-nominated?
I don’t know. It’s the discretion of the President (of India). The decision is taken by the President as per the recommendation by the government. But till now, the precedent is that nominated MPs have not been renominated. But nothing is binding. So I’ll be very happy if he gets a renomination.
In the Thrikkakara bypoll, the party lost the security deposit. Don’t you think that’s a huge setback for the party?
Thrikkakara is one of the weakest constituencies for BJP in the entire state. Our organisational strength is very weak there. This being the situation, we performed decently.
Groupism is quite rampant, and so is casteism in BJP in Kerala. There’s a feeling that is the reason why BJP is unable to make electoral gains in Kerala...
See, this is a general perception that is being spread. Maybe, because other parties have ‘groupism’, everybody feels that we also have ‘groupism’.
In Congress, there is a well-defined groupism from top to bottom, while in CPM, one can say which leader belongs to the VS group and which to the Pinarayi group.
There isn’t a single instance of senior BJP leaders expressing differences in public.
Within the organisational forums, we do express our differences. That’s quite natural. But this wrong perception of groupism is a big issue for Kerala BJP.
There is also a view that there’s a tug of war between leaders belonging to the Nair and Ezhava communities in the party…
There are no Ezhava and Nair divisions in BJP. We have an umbilical connection with the RSS. RSS never believes in casteism and it stands for a united Hindu society.
There is a purported move from a section that people should not consider BJP as a party that is united, unlike Congress and CPM.
BJP gained ground in other states by bringing popular leaders from other parties to its fold. In Kerala, there are many disgruntled leaders, especially in Congress. Any move to win them over?
Even if there’s such a move, do you think that I will share that publicly?
P C George campaigned for BJP in Thrikkakara. What’s the equation between him and BJP?
P C George has been telling some truths. We are on the same page on many issues of late.
CPM alleges that BJP in Kerala is working against the interests of Kerala. They cite your opposition to SilverLine. Why is Kerala BJP against K-Rail when the Narendra Modi government is chanting the development mantra?
CPM’s definition of development is something different from that of the Narendra Modi government. The prime minister is integrating technology with development and governance.
If we can run trains at a speed of 130 km per hour with some land acquisition, then what is the need for SilverLine?
The project is for the sake of somebody who wants to make some money and has some other ulterior motives. The Modi government has never done anything without preparation.
In the diplomatic gold smuggling controversy, the Congress alleges that BJP is hand in glove with CPM. CPM says it’s a Sangh Parivar conspiracy. What do you have to say?
I don’t need to answer their allegations and counter-allegations because you can go to the other side to get an answer.
My point is something different.
The crux of the whole issue is the diplomatic ID that was given to the Egyptian citizen, Khalid, who was a contract employee. See, he was not a regular employee of the UAE consulate. He was locally hired.
There was a direction from the Government of India’s protocol division to provide security to the consulate. But the protection for the consulate was changed to protection for the consul general here.
Then, in the consulate, this contract employee was provided a diplomatic ID by the state protocol division.
Why? I assume that this was done in a very planned way because a foreign national cannot be questioned as he will not come within the purview of Indian laws.
The fact is that foreign missions are not supposed to interact directly with state governments. But here the chief minister says the consul general used to come to meet him.
This is a blatant violation of protocol. What is the authority of the chief minister and the ministers to frequently meet the consul general and other people?
If it was a “blatant violation of protocol’’, why has no explanation been sought from the CM?
That we have to examine because the problem is protocol violation and it doesn’t come under the IPC. See, questioning can be done only if it is a punishable offence.
Do you think there was a larger level conspiracy involving the chief minister and other ministers?
Definitely, one has to suspect that. Normally, for example, when we also go abroad, we carry our gifts. Gifts are a normal part of diplomatic engagements.
If I forget the gifts, there will be a person who will carry that — a representative of the Government of India will carry that. In this case, a representative of the Kerala government should have carried that.
There are allegations that the Union government is not taking steps to bring the accused who had sent the baggage. What’s your take?
We have arrested Faizal Fareed and questioned him. Rabins Hameed was the person who had sent it. In the assembly, the state government said the central government is not conducting an inquiry on who had sent it.
These are the people who had sent it and they are under police custody. NIA has informed the court.
CM asked why a lookout notice is not being issued. Lookout notices are to be issued when somebody is untraceable.
As a foreign national is involved in the case, a CBI inquiry is required in the case, isn’t it?
CBI inquiry is definitely required. CBI also cannot go beyond the country. But definitely, this issue needs an inquiry beyond ED and Customs.
Money laundering is being probed by ED while import and export violations are being probed by the Customs.
These are issues beyond that. CBI was asked to inquire about the Life Mission case, which would have gone to other connected issues. That’s why I suspect the government approached the Supreme Court to stop CBI.
Because they know that if CBI goes into details, it will unearth all things.
There is an allegation that the central government is going slow in the Lavalin case? Your comments...
Why should the Centre go slow on the Lavalin case, and for what purpose? We lost the one seat that we had. So why should we help CPM?
Rahul Gandhi’s case has been going on for eight years. Is that a tacit understanding? Cases get postponed for one reason or the other. It is a matter of the judiciary.
Congress alleges that there is a tacit understanding between BJP and CPM…
CPM was primarily responsible for us losing our lone seat in the Kerala assembly. Why should we help CPM when they are the ones who attack BJP workers in Kerala?
Who is your number one enemy in Kerala? Is it CPM or Congress?
Both. We don’t differentiate between them. We don’t think this is a better evil than the other.
What do you think of V D Satheesan as the leader of opposition?
Ramesh Chennithala was a better opposition leader and the Congress legislature party was more active under him. VD Satheesan said they would be a “cooperative opposition’’.
Unlike the opposition led by Ramesh Chennithala, Congress is only making statements now. There are numerous issues that could bring the government down to its knees but the opposition is ineffective.
The Sprinklr issue was raised by Ramesh Chennithala but V D Satheesan didn’t support him at that time. It seems, the Congress party under Satheesan only wants to bark, not bite. Where is the opposition now?
There are rumours BJP’s quotation gang attacked Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad...
Are you saying Pinarayi Vijayan receives a quotation from Narendra Modi to use against Rahul Gandhi! That’s absurd. Rahul Gandhi ran away from Amethi.
He’s gone to Wayanad. Why is it important that we care about him? CPM did it using a very detailed plan.
(Transcribed by Arun M and Anilkumar T)