NDA attempts breaking binary mode

A minute into any conversation with a BJP activist in poll-season Kerala, you are likely to be told how much importance the Sangham attaches to the May 16 election. The Sangham–the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or in a broader sense, the ideological base of the party–has been a low-tone presence in Kerala’s electoral politics. The BJP state leadership had, so far, distanced itself from reports that national leaders and the RSS were calling the shots in the choice of allies and candidates.

But as the party pulls out all stops to pitch itself as an alternative to the Congress-led ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), the idea, perhaps, is to shun pretences of political tact and pull all resources together to take the fight to the opponents. That, at least, is the feeling many party workers share. They feel it’s time to go beyond rising vote shares and start winning some seats.

The increase in vote share is, still, a pointer–in the 2011 Assembly election, the BJP secured 6.03% votes, without winning a seat; the CPM, the single-largest party in the poll, secured 28.18% votes and won 45 seats.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP increased its vote share to over 10%, still not winning any of the 18 seats it contested from. With a 31% vote share, the Congress won 8 of the 15 seats it contested.

The BJP has, for long, grappled with the problem of scattered vote bases and a perceptible shortage of star candidates, barring veteran O Rajagopal who has delivered very impressive returns in recent elections. For the 2016 season, the BJP has tried to address the problems by forging what it claims as more inclusive alliance and lining up all its top state leaders as candidates.

The state BJP leadership has identified at least 20 of the 140 constituencies where the party and its key ally, the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), could pose a serious threat to the two main political fronts.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan set the tone when he said it was no longer about winning the party’s first ever Assembly seat in Kerala, but it was about forming a government. The UDF and LDF leaders have, on expected lines, dubbed the ambition as outrageous. But perceptions of the BJP challenge are also hard to miss. Election rhetoric of both the major fronts now features a mandatory reference to the need to keep fundamentalist interests away.

The CPM leaders, including Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, while dismissing the BJP’s chances, also points to the financial and PR muscle with which the party is running its campaign. The Congress leaders, including A K Antony, are asserting that in the larger scheme of things, the BJP is a big threat.

The BJP is familiar with these calls for consolidation against “the common enemy”. This time, it’s hitting back by pointing out the irony in the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal. The “Bengal mein dosti, Keral mein kusthi” charge has steered the BJP’s campaign. Locally, the party has called for a vote against the Left coalition of “akramam” (violence) and the Congress-led coalition of “ashleelam” (sleaze). P S Sreedharan Pillai, senior BJP leader and candidate in an engaging three-way contest in Chengannur, says the party is set to “fill the gap” after decades of LDF-UDF rule. “There are enough signs that the party is gaining new ground in Kerala. The kind of support extended by the Church and the Christian voters in Chengannur is also indicative of a trend emerging across the state,” says Pillai.

While having the RSS-nominated Kummanam Rajasekharan at the helm, the party has put together an alliance with BDJS, a new political party formed by the backward Ezhava community leadership. It has pulled off a surprise by getting iconic tribal activist C K Janu to contest from Sultan Bathery as a NDA-backed independent. The party also found a celebrity campaigner, actor-Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak in five public rallies, BJP president Amit Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are among the leaders who have arrived to lead the Kerala campaign. The reported opposition among state leaders against the BJP central leadership’s decision to accord special treatment to BDJS –  giving tickets in 37 constituencies – and to field cricketer S Sreesanth in Thiruvananthapuram could be post-election debating points.