Amit Shah to march against red and jihadi terrorism in Kerala

Desperate to broaden BJP base in Kerala, party chief Amit Shah will kick off a 15-day state-wide padyatra (foot march) in trouble-torn Kannur in north Kerala on October 3 with a new slogan to expose “red and jihadi terrorism”.

Giving enough jitters to the ruling CPI(M), Shah will meet families of political violence and address a meeting in Pinarayi, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s village on October 5.

He will be covering the district on foot at least 15 km a day, said party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan who will be leading the march. He will camp in Kannur for three days.

Shah will also address a session at Thiruvananthapuram on October 17 on the conclusion of the march. Many central ministers, including Niramala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Ananthkumar, are expected to address the march at different venues.

Called “Janaraksha Yatra”, the party will expose ruling CPI(M)’s political intolerance and throw enough light on growing fundamentalist activities in the state, said Rajasekharan.

“The CPI(M) believes in politics of annihilation. So it is not allowing others to function in party villages,” said co-ordinator of the yatra, V Muraleedharan.

Besides targeting CPI(M), the party is also expected to exploit some of the recent incidents like the alleged love jihad to curry favour with the majority community in the state.

Shah is also expected to chart out a plan for the state unit to build up its base and iron out differences between allies of the National Democratic Front. Some of the constituents had threatened to walk out of the alliance, saying they were not given their due promised during the last assembly election.

The party had opened its account in the state assembly securing a single seat from Thiruvananthapuram. But its poll vote percentage had almost doubled from 7 to 14 in the election. It has identified at least four Lok Sabha seats where it hopes to give a stiff resistance to its rivals.

A distant third-runner in the state, the party had sent enough feelers to the Church to placate it, but it is yet to bite the bait.

However, the CPI(M) has criticised Shah’s visit to Kannur.

“He is an expert in fanning trouble and creating rift among people. Wherever he went, riots followed. We are sure people will see through his game plan,” said CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Police have beefed up security in the district in view of Shah’s visit.