The ruling Communist Party of India and Opposition Congress on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech that like the north-eastern states, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come to power in Kerala as well.
After victory in north-eastern states, the PM, while addressing the jubilant party workers in New Delhi on Thursday, had said that the BJP will continue to expand its base and Kerala is its next target.
“I am confident that in coming years, as it happened in Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Goa over the years, the BJP will come to power in Kerala as well,” he had said. Kerala is the only Opposition-ruled state that Modi had mentioned in his speech.
“Their ecosystem always tried to brand BJP initially as the baniya party, and then an urban party. They said we are anti-tribal but the party won all tribal seats in Gujarat recently. They instilled fear in minorities, but the people of Goa and now the northeast exposed the propaganda. Christians also supported us in Nagaland and Meghalaya,” he had said.
Responding to this speech, state Congress and CPI(M) leaders said: “Kerala will remain a daydream for the PM.”
“Communal forces cannot make any roots here. The state’s secular credentials are a role model for others,” said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
“Modi’s divisive politics has no place in the southern state. He can keep dreaming. It will continue to remain a non-entity in the state. People of the state always uphold secularism and amity,” party politburo member M A Baby said.
“BJP rule will never happen in Kerala. People of the state will never allow communal forces here. We have seen in the last assembly polls how the party had to forfeit its lone seat here,” said Opposition leader V D Satheesan.
Desperate to get a foothold in the southern state, the BJP has been tapping into the Christian community for long. It even tried to broker peace between two warring factions of the church –Jacobites and Orthodox, state BJP leader said.
BJP knows that going by the demographic pattern of the state – 54.73% Hindus, 26.56% Muslims, and 18.38% Christians (as per the 2011 census) – it is difficult to win without the support of the Christian community, the leader added.
BJP leaders said Christians supported it in the northeastern states and Goa wholeheartedly, and now Kerala is left. The Congress keeps the community away from the party by creating “fear psychosis”, they said.
Party state president K Surendran said the resounding victory of BJP and its allies in the north-east clearly shows that PM Modi has the support of all sections of society.
“The Congress and CPI(M) try to keep minority communities away by instilling fear in them, but this will not remain the case for long. The PM’s politics of development yielded good results in the northeast. This will soon reflect in Kerala as well. The state cannot live with mere slogans,” he said.