Opposing fronts seem to magnify or distort, according to circumstances, unscripted remarks by politicians and questionable controversies of the day through the prism of electoral politics to gain a whip hand over rivals as sweltering March turns into an unforgiving month of no-holds-barred fighting at the hustings.
For one, a seemingly unrehearsed moment on the Lok Sabha campaign trail gave ammunition to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and Congress to assail Suresh Gopi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in the fiercely contested Thrissur Lok Sabha segment on Sunday.
A viral video purportedly showing Mr. Gopi chiding party workers in a tribal locality for allegedly being unenthusiastic about registering new voters gave sensational grist for his political rivals.
A candid camera had captured Mr. Gopi telling BJP workers, with his palms pressed together in a namaste gesture, that such oversight might compel him to forsake Thrissur and return to Thiruvananthapuram to campaign for Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Chullikad’s criticism
Mr. Gopi’s portrayal of voters as subjects drew oblique criticism from poet and actor Balachandran Chullikad. Without naming the actor, Mr. Chullikad reminded voters they had been citizens, not subjects, since 1947, when India shrugged off the shackles of feudalism.
Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) social media handlers aggressively promoted Mr. Chullikad’s speech online and sought to portray Mr. Gopi’s “gaffe” as an unintentional revelation of his allegedly subconscious feeling of grandeur.
Mr. Gopi has yet to comment on Mr. Chullikad’s remark. However, he told reporters in Thrissur that he reserved the right to encourage BJP workers and point out their shortcomings. “I just reminded them humbly that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had mandated BJP workers to register new voters,” Mr. Gopi said.
Former State Police Chief and head of Kochi Metro Loknath Behera also appeared caught in the crossfire between the Congress and CPI(M) campaigns.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan accused Mr. Behera of persuading Padmaja Venugopal to cross over from the Congress to the BJP at the instance of the CPI(M) leadership. Ms. Venugopal and Mr. Behera have since denied the insinuation. However, the LDF attempted to turn Ms. Venugopal’s defection into a bullhorn to amplify its steady refrain, targeting social segments wary of Sangh Parivar’s ascendancy, that a vote for Congress was a leg-up for the BJP.
