BJP’s Christian outreach back to square one in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP has been betting big on Kerala of late. A key card in its hand was the sizeable Christian vote bank in the state, complementing the party’s Hindu voters. The saffron camp seems to have suddenly lost this card, that too months before the local body polls and the subsequent Assembly elections. Courtesy Bajrang Dal, an affiliate of the RSS.

While Chhattisgarh is more than 1,800 km from Kerala, the alleged assault on Malayali nuns Preethy Mary and Vandana Francis by Bajrang Dal activists in Durg on June 25 is likely to have serious repercussions for the BJP in the deep south.

Though Christians constitute only around 18.5% of Kerala’s population as per the 2011 census, their votes are crucial in 35-40 seats in the 140-strong Assembly.

The BJP has been wooing Christians by accusing both the Congress-led UDF and the CPM-led LDF of indulging in Muslim appeasement. They have been raking up issues like ‘love jihad’ and the Munambam Wakf land row, which affected Christians mostly.

In what was seen by many as overt Christian appeasement, BJP leaders visited bishops and Christian families during Christmas and Easter. The party top brass too did their part. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders held talks with prominent bishops, a Kerala Christian, George Kurian, was made a Union minister and Christian leaders like former defence minister A K Antony’s son Anil Antony were brought to leadership positions in the party.

Even as the saffron party’s all-out efforts to make inroads into the Christian vote bank are almost back to square one, the UDF is trying to regain its support among Christians who have been softening on the ruling LDF.

In yet another bolt from the blue for the saffron camp, another group of Malayali nuns and priests came under attack, allegedly by Sangh Parivar activists, in Odisha on August 6.

Without wasting any time, both the UDF and the LDF held several protests to “expose” the BJP-Sangh Parivar over these incidents.

Kerala also saw several bishops taking to the street “seeking justice” for the nuns, who have been booked on the charges of forced conversion and human trafficking. The bishops didn’t mince words when they told the saffron leadership that no diplomacy could happen unless the safety of minorities was ensured in the country.

The desperation in the BJP’s Kerala camp was evident as party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar himself flew to Delhi and a delegation led by party state general secretary Anoop Antony Joseph was sent to Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, delegations of UDF and LDF MPs vied with each other in reaching Durg and extending support to the jailed nuns. 

When the nuns eventually got out of prison on bail, the BJP too tried to take credit, with Chandrasekhar flying to Chhattisgarh to receive them. However, this hasn’t given the desired result as the Christian community is adamant on getting the “fake case” against the nuns quashed as well as taking action against the Bajrang Dal activists.

On August 16, the two nuns called on Chandrasekhar in Delhi to express their gratitude. They also sought his help in quashing the case against them.

Another relief for the BJP was the “expression of gratitude” by a section of church leaders like Tellicherry archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany.  

The BJP seems to be treading a fine line as a section in the Sangh Parivar feels that appeasing Christians could be counter-productive, affecting the party’s Hindu vote base, especially in other states. The silence maintained by the party state leadership on the Odisha incident seems to be the outcome of such a concern.

Hindus constitute around 55% of the state’s population and there is a  view in the Sangh that a strong two-front campaign against the UDF and the LDF over “minority appeasement” itself could help the BJP.

Meanwhile, the BJP camp in Kerala is also trying to cash in on a fresh ‘love jihad’ allegation. A purported suicide note of a 23-year-old girl from the Christian community, who was found hanging in her house on the suburbs of Kochi on August 9, accuses her lover and family of torturing her to convert to Islam for getting married.

Union minister and BJP’s maiden Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, visited the family, that too amid severe criticism from within the Christian community over the actor-turned politician’s silence on the ordeal faced by the nuns.

Despite all these efforts, the BJP is yet to win over Christian voters in a big way. In the recently held Nilambur bypoll, the BJP’s vote share fell despite fielding a local Christian leader. The party’s vote share was only 4.91% while the constituency had around 10% Christian population.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as well as the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP did not make any gains in Christian strongholds, except in the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat where Suresh Gopi’s personal rapport seemed to have worked  more than the party’s strategies.

Political analyst Jacob George points out that even though the BJP raked up several issues to woo the Christian community, like the Munambam row, human-wildlife conflict that affects high-range farmers who are mostly Christians and the crisis faced by rubber farmers, the party could not bring about any solutions to these issues.

Kerala Christians have been traditionally considered strong supporters  of the UDF, owing to the stand of churches against the education and land reforms by the first communist government in the state.

However, a significant shift was witnessed in the 2021 elections as the LDF gained in the Christian strongholds of central Kerala. The Congress is quite cautious about this shift and hence, making all possible efforts to regain the support of the community.

Analysts feel that since it is quite certain that the anti-BJP sentiments among the Christian community aggravated due to the ordeal faced by the nuns in Chhattisgarh, the Congress is most likely to benefit from it.