After Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath In BJP's Relay Yatra In Kerala: 10 Facts

Yogi Adityanath, the BJP's Hindutva face and an aggressive orator, is expected to sharpen the attack as part of the Jana Raksha yatra. The saffron-robed Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh landed at Keecheri and began his slow march, wearing a cap in his party's colours.

Kerala | Reported by Sneha Mary Koshy, Uma Sudhir, Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: October 04, 2017 14:17 IST

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After Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath In BJP's Relay Yatra In Kerala: 10 Facts

Yogi Adityanath landed at Keecheri in Kerala's Kannur and began his yatra on foot.

Kannur, Kerala: Yogi Adityanath, wearing a BJP cap and surrounded by a sea of supporters and party flags, today joined the 15-day relay walk or padyatra launched in Kerala by chief Amit Shah yesterday. Mr Shah launched the Jana Raksha (protect people) yatrain Kannur, the home base of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, to highlight what the BJP calls the ruling CPM's "murder politics". Yogi Adityanath, the BJP's Hindutva face, is focusing on "jihadi red-terror". Two more chief ministers, Devendra Fadnavis and Manohar Parrikar, are expected to take the baton as the BJP calls in the cavalry in Kerala, a state it has never won.

Here are the top 10 developments in this story:

"The BJP yatra is to generate awareness on the violence and killings of political workers and those of our ideology. This yatra is a mirror to the governments of Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal to repent and put an end to the killing of innocent people," the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister told reporters, adding, "The government has created an environment of Jihadi terror here."
The saffron-robed priest-politician began his march at Kannur's Keecheri, sporting a broad smile and holding a BJP flag.
In the next few days, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Goa's Manohar Parrikar are expected to head to Kerala. So are union ministers Nirmala Sitaraman, Dharmendra Pradhan and VK Singh.
The yatra, which will see top BJP leaders relay-walk across the state towards capital Thiruvananthapuram, aims at bringing the party to the mainstream in a state where the Left and the Congress have been the leading players.
On Tuesday, Amit Shah made for a vivid picture in a traditional Kerala dhoti, offering prayers at the Rajarajeshwara temple in Kannur before launching the yatra.
Kerala is one of the states where Amit Shah wants the BJP to establish its presence in a big way in the 2019 general election. In last year's assembly elections, the BJP had won a single seat. It has never won a Parliament seat.
Mr Shah is focusing on five states where the BJP had never been in power. Yogi Adityanath represents the party's biggest success - Uttar Pradesh - where it posted its most spectacular performance in recent elections.
The Left accuses the BJP of an insidious strategy in bringing Yogi Adityanath to a state where Hindutva politics has never taken centre-stage.
"Everybody knows Adityanath is not going to Kerala to take the message of peace, is he. We all know the kind of speeches he makes," senior CPM leader Brinda Karat said on Tuesday.
Since May 2016, when the Left won the assembly elections, eight political murders have taken place in Kannur. Three activists of the CPM and five of the BJP have been murdered. Statistics with the state crime records bureau says that since 1991, 45 workers of the CPM, 44 of the BJP, four of the Muslim League and 15 of the Congress have been killed in Kannur.