Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for attempting to make inroads into Kerala by exacerbating communal divisions, Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K. Mani said the party would miserably fail in its attempt to woo the Christian voters as well as the Church leadership.
In an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Mani noted that while Churches might advocate for the issues affecting people, they refrained from intervening in party politics. “Welcoming political leaders is part of their culture, but it doesn’t imply influence by any party or leader,” he said.
To a query on the attempts being made by the BJP to woo the Catholic Church members in Kerala and the party’s support for the screening of the movie The Kerala Story, he said such actions were part of the national party’s strategy to sow divisions among various communities and exploit fault lines for political gains. However, the BJP seemed less inclined to prioritise the genuine needs of Kerala like issues of rubber farmers, around which the State’s economy revolved, he said.
