Kerala leader who called Modi worst PM is now BJP's hero

Accused of hate speeches and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the worst PM, Kerala politician P C George, has now turned a hero for the Bharatiya Janata Party after the leader's fiery speeches targeting the Muslim community.

The former MLA had, less than two years ago, targeted PM Modi by calling him one of the worst prime ministers of India.

As police arrested George in connection with hate speeches in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, the BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits offered receptions to him and party leaders, including union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan, even turned up to greet him in police custody.

George was remanded to judicial custody by a court in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, while a bail plea filed at the Kerala High Court would be considered only on Friday.

A former leader of the regional party Kerala Congress and an MLA in Kerala for 30 years, George had joined the BJP-led NDA in Kerala in 2019 after floating his own party ‘Janapaksham’. But his association with the NDA lasted only a few months.

It was while announcing his decision to quit the NDA in December 2019 that George, who is known for his loose tongue, commented that Narendra Modi was a bad prime minister. He also alleged that Modi was looting the Reserve Bank of India.

BJP sources pointed out that the same George had earlier praised Modi. In 2013, while being part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front he even inaugurated a ‘Run for Unity’ campaign by displaying a t-shirt with Modi’s picture.

The BJP seems to be backing George with the intention of getting close to Kerala's Christian vote banks, especially since the Assembly bypoll at Thrikkakkara is on May 31.

The BJP has been backing Christian bishops in Kerala who had raised matters of ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’.

Countering the BJP’s move, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at a bypoll campaign meeting on Thursday that the BJP was supporting George with the intention of making the Christian community in Kerala feel that the party was protecting them.

But the attack on the Christian community in other parts of the country exposes the real attitude of BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits, he said.

George, who hails from Poonjar in Kottayam district, is a seven-time MLA from Poonjar, mostly representing the regional Kerala Congress.

In 2016, he contested as an independent MLA and even won but lost in the 2021 Assembly election. His present moves are being looked at as a desperate attempt to grab attention.