Kerala Assembly Polls 2026: Electioneering becoming more communal

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as maintaining communal balances and equations is never new to electoral politics in Kerala, communalisation of electioneering is now becoming louder.

The controversial 'Hindu MLA' remark from BJP leader and candidate at Guruvayur, B Gopalakrishnan, was followed by remarks from Congress candidate Sarath Chandra Prasad against his opponent Kadakampally Surendran of CPI (M), who is facing allegations regarding nexus with Sabarimala gold heist accused.

Prasad said Surendran will be 'caught by the tigers of lord Ayyappa', triggering communal sentiments ahead of the Assembly elections.

While the 'deal with BJP' allegations being raised against each other by CPI (M) and Congress is an obvious attempt to woo Muslim vote banks, Kerala has witnessed many communal remarks by senior politicians for communal polarisation.

Political analysts point out that the recent trends are the outcome of the active role of BJP-RSS in Kerala politics. 

"If communal campaigns were earlier aimed at minority vote polarisation by the Congress and the CPI (M), now communal campaigns for Hindu vote polarisation is happening. It could be seen as the outcome of the active entry of BJP-RSS in Kerala electoral politics," says senior journalist B V Pavanan.

The entry of Bharat Dharama Jana Sena (BDJS), which is a political forum linked with the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), into the BJP camp, seems to have done away with the stigma among mainstream political parties to make communal stands open.

SNDP, which follows the preaching of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, has been considered as a highly secular body.

"During the earlier years, communal equations used to be discussed only during candidate selections. Afterwards, all were considered as leaders only. There was even a chief minister from the Indian Union Muslim League, C H Mohammed Koya. But now IUML is being given a communal colour. BJP's active entry into Kerala politics could be the reason as communalism is one of their key agendas," said senior journalist and political commentator Jacob George.

Leaders of various communities and churches are also making open calls in favour of political parties and political parties are openly highlighting the communal representations among candidates.

On several occasions, Kerala voters have proved that political interventions of community leaders make little influence on them. There is a growing feeling among the voters that community heads were having vested interests in pleasing political leaders.

During the 2021 election G Sukumaran Nair, who heads the Nair Service Society that represents the Hindu Nair community, made an open statement against the then left-front government citing the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple women entry issue. Even then the left-front returned to power by improving the number of seats.

Congress leader V M Sudheeran had earlier won elections despite open moves against him by Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP).