By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to make slow but steady inroads into Kerala, an unassailable bastion for the saffron party so far, results of the recently held local body elections indicate.
Although the BJP failed to perform as expected in the Kerala civic elections, it has significantly improved its 2015 tally, reports the Times of India.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) that rules Kerala has maintained its number one position and the main opposition and Congress-led United Democratic Front came second in the elections to village panchayats, district panchayats and municipal corporations.
According to the Times of India, what helped the BJP improve its performance included the Sabarimala agitation and inclusive politics – fielding 600 Christian and Muslim candidates for the first time. The party also reportedly used the services of its senior leaders belonging to the minority communities from the southern Indian state.
Cyriac Sebastian, editor ofnewsnindia.com, says Christian candidates have won from Panthalam in Pathanamthitta and Ramapuram in Kottayam districts. Pandalam is considered a holy town because of its connection with Lord Ayyappa and Sabarimala.
Ajith Lawrence, a veteran journalist and a political commentator based in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram, says the BJP has been trying desperately to present the image of an inclusive party in Kerala, where Muslims and Christians together form more than 45 percent of the population.
As Hindus, the BJP’s main support elsewhere in India, are divided in Kerala between the two fronts, the party can make a foothold in the southern Indian state only through the support of the two minority communities, Lawrence told Matters India.
BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, a Christian from Kerala’s Thrissur district, says the party has laid a “sound foundation” for the state assembly elections due in 2021.
“The green shoots (of the BJP) are visible across Kerala. There is a visibility of minority votes being transferred to the BJP. According to the initial figures available, 10 percent of the Christian votes have got transferred to the party while the Muslim votes have consolidated in favor of the LDF,” Vadakkan claimed.
The former Congress leader turned a BJP member said his former party was the biggest loser in these civic elections.
“We have done better than the last time. We have touched a 1,600-mark. Last time the figure was 1200. The BJP has made inroads into the traditional constituencies of senior Congress leaders such as former defense minister AK Antony, former chief minister Oommen Chandy, leader of opposition in the Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala and Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor.”
The Sabarimala controversy seems to have helped the BJP. It is ahead of the others in Pandalam, which was the epicenter of the protests organized by the party along with other Hindu groups against the entry of women of menstruating age inside the temple.
The protests followed the Supreme Court judgment allowing women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala temple.
Moreover, the BJP put up 500 Christian and 112 Muslim candidates for the recent elections held December 8, 10 and 14. The results were announced on December 16.
Furthermore, the BJP deputed three of its leaders from Kerala and all belonging to the minority communities – national vice-president A P Abdullakutty, a Muslim; and national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan and Rajya Sabha MP K J Alphons, both Christians – for campaigning in the civic polls.
The move sought to counter the alleged propaganda of the Congress and the Left parties that the minorities will not support it, to respect the sentiments of the Muslim and Christian community leaders for contesting these elections and to expand its base in the southern state which faces assembly election in the next six months.
The strategy seems to have partially paid off.
BJP national president J P Nadda has thanked people for ‘improved mandate’ for the party in Kerala. “I thank the people of Kerala for giving an improved mandate to BJP in Local Body Elections,” he tweeted.
He thanked the BJP leaders and workers in Kerala who he said had worked tirelessly. “We will continue to expose the corrupt, communal and hypocrite politics of both LDF and UDF fronts,” he added.
BJP general secretary B L Santhosh thanked the people of Kerala for giving the party 1,182 village panchayats, 37 block panchayats, 2 district councils, 320 municipality, and 59 corporation wards.
The party has won the Palakkad and Pandalam municipalities and emerged the main opposition in Thiruvananthapuram.