For the fourth time since January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will put his shoulder to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign bandwagon in Kerala by holding a roadshow and public rally in the Palakkad and Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituencies on March 15 and 17, respectively.
In his previous sallies into the State, Mr. Modi portrayed the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] as INDIA Bloc allies. He said they hid their true colours to pose as enemies in Kerala. Mr. Modi has repeatedly insisted that the Congress-CPI(M) “revolving door politics” was Kerala’s bane. He proposed “Modi’s guarantee” as the panacea for the State’s welfare and development “stasis.”
Bid to woo minorities
Mr. Modi seemed to consciously avoid dwelling on hot button issues such as the Uniform Civil Code, Citizenship Amendment Act, and criminalisation of Triple Talaq while campaigning in Kerala, given the BJP’s overtures to woo minorities, primarily Christians, who form a crucial electoral bloc in the State.
Mr. Modi will likely hold a high-decibel roadshow to bolster BJP State vice-president C. Krishnakumar’s chances in Palakkad. Mr. Krishnakumar, who emerged third in Palakkad in the 2019 elections, notched up 2.18 lakh votes, increasing the BJP’s vote share by 6.5%.
Mr. Modi will return to Kerala on March 17 to campaign for Anil K. Antony, son of Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony, in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency. Mr. Anil Antony had defected to the BJP last year, embarrassing the Congress party’s State and national leadership and handing the CPI(M) a talking point to embarrass the grand old party at the hustings. The BJP reportedly perceives that Mr. Anil Antony’s presence and the backing of veteran politician P.C. George, who recently merged his party with the BJP, might give an impetus to its outreach to the Christian community in the rubber-growing belt in Central Kerala.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, immediately after the Save Sabarimala Campaign, the BJP garnered nearly 3 lakh votes, increasing its vote share by almost 14% in the debatable hotspot of Hindutva politics.
Campaign plans ready
Ahead of Mr. Modi’s visit, the BJP has accelerated its new voter registration and knock-on-doors operations. It has also tailored the travelling schedules of candidates in key constituencies, primarily Attingal, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, to ensure that they cover all corners multiple times. The BJP also flagged off a mobile multi-media exhibition showcasing the achievements of Mr. Modi’s 10 years of governance. It hoped to incorporate the country’s economic, scientific, and industrial growth into the party’s election narrative in Kerala.
