This is how Amit Shah is consolidating Hindu vote bank in Kerala

BJP President Amit Shah is perturbed by the fact that Hindus have become a minority in Kerala. An astute politician as he is, Shah sees an opportunity in the changing demographics of Kerala to strive for Hindu consolidation.

On a recent visit to the state, he has directed party local leadership to launch a campaign to keep all Hindu organisations, including the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) and the Nair Service Society (NSS), united so as to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. He also directed the party leadership to strengthen the party base in Hindu majority constituencies in Kerala to reap maximum benefits in the next Assembly election due next year. Accordingly, BJP has identified 2,500 panchayat-municipal wards for the ensuing local body elections and 90 Assembly constituencies for the Assembly polls in which the party can do well.

SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Nadesan had recently met Amit Shah in Delhi when both discussed their future course of political manoeuvrings. VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia too had discussions with Nadesan.

There is talk of Nadesan’s son and SNDP Yogam Vice President Thushar Vellappalli finding his way to the Union Cabinet as a quid pro quo for SNDP’s support to the BJP.

The changing demographic profile of Kerala is poised to have serious political ramifications. It is triggering a political realignment in Kerala aimed at consolidating the fragmented Hindu community.

According to the 2011 Census, Hindus, who were the traditional majority community in Kerala, have become a minority and Muslims plus Christians have become a majority. As per the 2001 Census figures, 56% of Kerala residents are Hindus, 24.7% are Muslims and 19% are Christians. But, according to the 2011 Census, the Hindu population in Kerala massively plummeted to 48 %, while Muslim population rose from 24.7 % to 26.6 %.

The BJP and Hindu organisations like the SNDP have expressed concern over the decline in Hindu population and growth in the minorities’ population. The BJP attributes the rise in minority population to the growth in the birth rate among Muslims and the large-scale migration of Bangladeshi muslims to Kerala. The BJP has sought an investigation into the migration of Muslims from Bangladesh into the State in the garb of migrant workers and the alleged efforts to get them enrolled in the voters’ list.

“The growth in minorities’ population in the State in the decade was far greater than the growth seen in a whole century. The shrinkage of the Hindu community into a minority in the State would be detrimental to the Keralites’ identity and this could have serious consequences,” says BJP state President V Muraleedharan.

SNDP Yogam, the outfit of the influential Hindu lower caste Ezhavas who had traditionally been supportive of the Left, has recently been showing signs of getting nearer to the Sangh Pariwar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s OBC identity seems to be going down well with the SNDP Yogam followers. If the BJP and SNDP Yogam come together, it could be a formidable political combination.

BJP’s efforts to woo the leadership of the Nair Service Society(NSS) have not yielded positive results. BJP is angry with NSS General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair for snubbing party sympathiser and film actor Suresh Gopi when he went to the NSS Headquarters at Perunna the other day. There are reports that Sangh Parivar cadres are infiltrating into the lower units of NSS on a massive scale with a view to influencing, if not capturing, the NSS.

Last year, Modi made a big leap in his efforts to woo Kerala’s Dalits by inaugurating the 152nd birth anniversary celebrations of Dalit icon Ayyankali in Kochi.

BJP is all set to launch a new political outfit Dharma Jana Sena (DJS) which will be a political consolidation largely of a substantial chunk of followers from the SNDP Yogam, a section of the Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabha (KPMS), and an assorted bunch of lower caste and community forums. The DJS-BJP political combine is likely to draw support from middle-level tearaway sections from the UDF and LDF and has the potential to emerge as a viable alternative to the UDF and LDF which have been dominating Kerala’s bipolar polity for decades. No wonder, the new political combine on the horizon is giving sleepless nights to the UDF and LDF leaders alike.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Folomojo.com

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