THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to a church in New Delhi on Easter day, the BJP has decided to reach out directly to Church leadership and the community. The BJP’s core committee meeting in Kochi, attended by the party’s Kerala Prabhari Prakash Javadekar, assessed that the PM’s outreach programme had made ripples in the Christian community.
The decision to reach out directly came after months of deliberations with Church heads, which was almost in line with the way Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made inroads into the Muslim community. The BJP’s national leadership observed that the Kerala Congress factions no longer enjoy the popular base they once had.
Moreover, the Church heads also sent positive signals, which is why the BJP’s national leadership was keen to gauge the response from the minority community.
The leadership in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, two districts with a considerable Christian community base, have been asked to report to the national leadership. The BJP has identified these two Lok Sabha constituencies as its favoured areas. V V Rajesh, the district president of the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram, and K K Aneesh Kumar, the district president of the party in Thrissur, informed the leadership of the outcome of their house visits.
According to the leaders’ Modi’s visit was well taken. “Within the community, there is a strong feeling against both the LDF and UDF. Also, there is a strong belief among the community members that the UDF, especially Congress, does not have a future in state politics. The LDF is inclined more toward the Muslim minority. A section of the people in the community thinks that the LDF is practising Muslim appeasement politics. And Muslim fundamentalists have intruded into CPM,” the leaders said.
“Several individuals have come to the realisation that the individuals responsible for the violent attacks against Churches were not affiliated with the RSS-BJP, but rather with extremist Hindutva groups that were previously expelled from the party.
The community is now more concerned about attacks on Christians across the globe. Additionally, the community has requested that the BJP leadership involve their members in the BJP and other associated groups, rather than just the minority morcha,” they added.
In its report, the Thiruvananthapuram leadership pointed out that in the state capital, the leadership printed one lakh Easter greetings, but it was forced to print an additional 50,000 due to an incredible response.