Amit Shah’s BJP Raksha Yatra in Kerala

Political Yatra is not new to Kerala. In fact, at any point of time, there is some Yatra taking place in the southern state. It could be led by a political party or a social organisation. However, no Yatra has in recent days hit the headlines in the national media as the Jan Raksha Yatra led by state BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan that concluded in the state Capital on October 17.

What made it distinct was the propaganda barrage that preceded and followed the Yatra. It was made out that Kerala, especially Kannur district, had become a killing field of the ruling Marxists and the life and property of ordinary people were in danger. The Yatra was purportedly to save them from the murder politics practiced by the Marxists.

True, political murders have become common in Kannur district to which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan belongs. However, the truth of the matter is that both the CPM and the RSS are made for each other and they are good at killing each other. Vijayan’s media advisor John Brittas claimed at a meeting in Delhi that while 85 Marxists were killed by the RSS, the latter lost only 65.

What is noteworthy is that 150 people lost their lives and their families have been suffering. There is no attempt to stop such internecine fights. However gruesome the killings and counter killings might be, they can only be considered as an aberration. Kerala is one of the most peaceful states. If it records more crime, it is because of its enlightened citizenry that does not take things lying down.

Love jihad and Jihadis

The impression that the BJP sought to create was that Kerala had become a hunting ground for Marxist Jihadis. Figures are cooked up to suggest that Islamic terrorists had been finding their recruits in Kerala to be sent to Iraq and Syria as their warriors. They claim that Hindu women were falling victims of Love Jihad.

One such girl, allegedly recruited to establish the Caliphate, surfaced with her lover to get married in a court of law. They did not want a religious marriage. A married woman, who is a medical doctor, is now kept in her paternal house against her wishes. Kummanam Rajasekharan visits her home but does not talk to her or find out why she married the Muslim man.

Such a meeting would not strengthen his claim that Hindu women in Kerala were an endangered species with Love Jihadists spreading their tentacles.

His Yatra lost much of its appeal when BJP chief Amit Shah abandoned it midway. He was supposed to be beside Rajasekharan as he walked through Pinarayi, the village of the Chief Minister. Shah’s sudden return to Delhi on October 4 was believed to be on the summons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi till it was revealed that he had gone there to handle the impending report in thewire.in that his son Jay Amit Shah recorded a phenomenal 16,000 growth rate in his business in one year, i.e., from ₹50,000 to ₹80 crore.

‘Somalia’ barb & Yogi put off Kerala

More than the bolting of Shah, it was the presence of a leader like Yogi Adityanath that played havoc with the party’s campaign. He is not the kind of person who would appeal to the Kerala electorate. When he tried to pick holes in the state’s health system after what happened to dozens of infants born in or admitted to a medical college in his own backyard Gorakhpur, people merely laughed.

One thing which the BJP leaders cannot sell is their development agenda. Everybody in Kerala knows that whatever be the social indices — infant mortality, mother’s mortality or women’s literacy — Kerala is far ahead of Gujarat, their poster-state.

Kerala’s BJP leaders admit in private that in the 2016 Assembly elections it was Modi’s comparison of Kerala with Somalia in sub-Saharan Africa that cost the party a lot of votes. Whatever be the political affiliation, the Keralites are proud of their state where life expectancy is comparable to that in developed countries. Even in per capita income Kerala’s is four times that of Uttar Pradesh.

Every day of the three-week Yatra, Kerala saw chief ministers of BJP-ruled states descending on the state only to make annoying statements. Goa’s Manohar Parrikar did not crown himself with glory when he said that Kerala was ruled by ruffians. Another BJP leader threatened that the eyes of the Marxists would be gouged out. All this from a party which wanted to secure the people against violence.

Kerala still remains an oasis

There is historical evidence that communal polarisation has always helped the BJP. Kerala, where Hindus constitute about 50 per cent and Muslims and Christians 25 per cent each, has always remained a bedrock of communal amity. Nowhere else can one see a church, a temple and a mosque standing tall in a row as at Palayam in the Capital. The Keralites may or may not eat beef but they do not appreciate the BJP’s cow politics.

The biggest shock for the party was that the voters of Vengara in Malappuram district voted decisively against it. The party, which won 7000 votes in 2016 and the third position, was this time pushed to the fourth position with a considerable reduction in its vote share. All this when the Yatra was still on.

It can verily be said that the Yatra, which began with a thunder ended with a whimper. Of course, Amit Shah was present when the Yatra ended but there was no combativeness in his speech. It was such a tame affair that people wondered why Rajasekharan took all the trouble to organise it. But, then, who did not know that it was actually a BJP Raksha Yatra to save its party leaders from the aftermath of the medical bribery scam.

(The author is senior journalist and commentator based in New Delhi)