Saffron Setback
The BJP and RSS are not quite in sync in Kerala, and plans have been misfiring of late
In May 2014, as counting got under way for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, BJP workers were upbeat. For the first time in Kerala’s political history, the saffron candidate, O. Rajagopal, was leading over the Congress’s Shashi Tharoor. The 88-year-old BJP veteran eventually came in second, losing by 15,470 votes, but he had proved a point.
The RSS saw the result as proof of the changing political mood. The idea got traction after Rajagopal won the Nemom assembly poll—in the same LS constituency—two years later, defeating a local heavyweight, the CPI(M)’s V. Sivankutty. The Sangh was convinced the lotus was ready to bloom in Kerala.
Building on that, the RSS’s prant karyavah (state secretary), P. Gopalankutty Master, says the organisation has been able to establish a dedicated cadre in the state. According to him, more than 150,000 volunteers participate in 5,200 daily and 800 weekly shakhas in the state. That, he proudly tells you, is more than “in states like Gujarat and Rajasthan”.
It’s an important part of BJP chief Amit Shah’s mission. The party ramped up its Lok Sabha tally of 10.3 per cent votes to 15 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls.
But in the past two months, the plan seems to have lost momentum after former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan’s unceremonious ‘ouster’ (he was shipped off to Mizoram as governor) in May. Insiders say the
Sangh was against the move, but both Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Shah wanted someone more pliable to run the party in Kerala. The BJP’s failure to name a successor to Kummanam till now also shows that not all is okay in the state set-up, say analysts.
Addressing partymen in Thiruvananthapuram on July 3, Shah was most cut up about the situation. He said Kerala’s BJP leaders were caught up in ego clashes despite the central (party) leadership bestowing numerous favours, including plum positions. “Amit Shah has a poor opinion of the state leadership and its functioning,” a senior party leader said.
Party insiders say Shah is eyeing 11 of Kerala’s 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2019, which the RSS thinks is much too ambitious. “We are realistic,” says Master. “We have winning chances in three Lok Sabha constituencies. The Sangh will work meticulously for the victory of BJP candidates. But we won’t interfere in the party’s internal affairs.”