NEW DELHI: Senior Muslim and Christian leaders of the BJP have not just defended but also expressed the hope that the party would reap benefits from fielding candidates from the two communities in the upcoming local bodies elections in Kerala.
In an unprecedented development, the BJP has put up over 600 Muslim and Christian candidates - 112 Muslims and 500 Christians - for the panchayat, municipalities and corporation elections to be held on December 8, 10 and 14.
The timesofindia.com spoke with three senior BJP leaders - party’s national vice-president AP Abdullakutty, national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan and Rajya Sabha MP KJ Alphons. All three belong to the minority communities and hail from Kerala.
Their common refrain was that the outreach to the minorities was to send across a signal that the BJP is a national, inclusive party, to shoot down the alleged propaganda of the Congress and the Left parties that the minorities will not support it, to respect the sentiments of the Muslim and Christian community leaders for contesting these elections and to expand its base in the southern state which faces assembly election in the next six months.
Kerala has been alternately ruled by the incumbent CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the main opposition Congress-headed United Democratic Front (UDF) since 1980. The minorities constitute 45 per cent of Kerala’s population.
The BJP seeks to emerge as the third potent force. Therefore, it is essential for it to win the support of the Muslims and Christians to make its presence felt and expand its base.
Talking to the timesofindia.com, BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said a major reason behind the party’s outreach to the minorities is to demolish the perception in some quarters that they do not support it.
Tom Vadakkan, who quit the Congress a couple of years ago to join the BJP, said he personally is a part of the party’s outreach to the minorities. “No one either coerced or enticed me to join the BJP. I came on my own free will to establish that the BJP is a part of the mainstream. It would be my effort to communicate this by setting an example by setting aside my connection with the Congress of 20 years.”
On his party’s outreach, he said, “The Congress and the Left parties are spreading the propaganda that the Muslims and the Christians will not go with the BJP. However, by its outreach, the BJP has made it clear that this is a false perception. The BJP candidates and leaders would be communicating with the members of the minority communities to create a fresh narrative.”
Vadakkan also revealed that there has been a growing request from the Christian and Muslim leaders of Kerala to the BJP to give greater representation to these two communities. “The BJP has walked that extra mile to respect their sentiments,” he said.
Former Union minister KJ Alphons emphasised on the inclusive nature of the BJP. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan and policy has been inclusiveness (Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas). The BJP is institutionalising this policy in Kerala by taking all communities along.
Bureaucrat-turned-politician Alphons also commented on the neighbouring state Karnataka’s rural development minister KS Eshwarappa’s statement last week that the BJP would give ticket for Belagavi Lok Sabha by-election to any Hindu but not to any Muslims because the latter do not support the party. “Such statements are unfortunate and an aberration. He is not the BJP’s voice. We disown such remarks,” he said.
Former Lok Sabha MP Abdullakutty said the results of these local bodies elections would lay the foundation for the forthcoming assembly elections next year. “Majority of Christians are already with the BJP. Others would follow suit after the results are declared,” he said.
Abdullakutty, who was expelled first from the Congress and then from the CPM for praising PM Narendra Modi before he joined the BJP, said the old perception of the BJP being anti-Muslim is getting negated. “The new message is that the BJP is an inclusive party and it has bright prospects in Kerala."