Posters in Kerala homes with young girls ask BJP vote seekers to not enter 

The indignation and fury over the inaction and brazen attempts to communalise the rape incidents in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh has shaken Kerala too. In the state, where a by-election is due in Chengannur in Alappuzha district soon, these incidents have taken political undertones.

According to reports, these posters first appeared in Kalamachal in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. These posters, some of them printed and some handwritten, banned the entry of BJP workers into their homes because there were young girls. One of the printed posters in Thiruvananthapuram had read, “Sanghis not welcome in this home. There are small children here.”

This protest has now moved to Chengannur where there is a bypoll due. Homes around Kallissery, Puliyoor and Chengannur town have displayed the posters.

The posters state: “There are girl children in this house. BJP party workers who come seeking for votes, please do not enter.”

“Please leave notice and other requests outside the gate. BJP vote seekers, please do not enter. This is a house where there are girls younger than 10.”

“This is a house where young girls reside. Vote-seeking BJP members, please stand outside the gate.”

The protest in Thiruvananthapuram was initiated by CPI (M) members, however, the homes in which the posters have appeared are not party members or sympathisers, the workers mentioned to The News Minute.

Local party workers state that this wasn’t any political campaign. Several youngsters not affiliated to either CPI(M) or Congress had distributed the posters and people in several homes were more than willing to paste it in the front of their homes.

The Election Commission has not announced the dates for Chengannur bypolls yet, but is expected to do so this week. This is a crucial bypoll for BJP to showcase its strength, which has been floundering ever since their ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena–led by Thushar Vellapally announced that it would not cooperate with the saffron party in the upcoming assembly bypoll.

In the wake of BJP’s win in Tripura, the BJP President Amit Shah has termed winning Chengannur crucial to the party’s ‘Mission Kerala’. Currently, it seems to be a distant dream.