The CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath visited Kerala on Sunday to flag off the Vijaya Yatra. During his visit, Yogi raised many issues pertaining to the state’s Hindus including love jihad, Sabrimala, and the state government’s failure to curb Coronavirus.
Trying to wake up the Hindus of the state, Yogi Adityanath said, “Governments led by CPI (M), and Congress do not take any action to solve issues of the people. In 2009, the High Court had stated that love jihad was a conspiracy to convert Kerala into an Islamic state. Successive governments have not only failed to take steps to curb religious conversion but have even adopted a pro-conversion stand. But the UP government has enacted a law against love jihad. BJP is ruling for national security as well as ensuring welfare of every citizen.”
The state of Kerala, ruled by the Congress-Communist alliance alternatively for the last few decades, has become a hub of Islamist and anti-national Communist activities. The exponential increase in the Muslim population in the northern belt of the state has turned it into a lucrative ground for recruitment by Islamic extremist forces nationally as well as internationally.
The anti-Hindu activities in the state were rampant and the Hindus hardly ever risen against the oppression by Communist and Islamists until the Sabarimala issue, which was raised by Yogi Adityanath during his visit to the state.
Targeting the CPI(M) government of Kerala over the Sabrimala issue, Yogi said, “They (CPM) are working against temples. In UP, the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for Ram Temple in accordance with the sentiments of people.”
Exposing the minority appeasement tactics of the Vijayan-led Kerala government, Yogi Adityanath added, “They are opening Halal bank in Kerala and the BJP should work against it with the voice of humanity.’’
In the last few years, especially after the Sabrimala row, in which BJP came out in open support of the devotees, the party has risen exponentially in the state. BJP had a marginal presence before 2016 but the saffron party emerged as the third-largest party in Kerala by a vote share of around 15 per cent, although it could win only one seat.
In the 2019 General Elections, the party could not win any seat but won 13 per cent of votes, emerging as the third-largest party in terms of vote share. Now as the result of the 2020 local election suggests, it has further consolidated its position in Kerala and dislodged the left and Congress from many constituencies.
In the upcoming assembly elections scheduled in 2021, BJP would probably emerge as the major opposition to the Left Front and Congress would be further marginalised. And, by the 2026 assembly elections, the party would have real chances to win Kerala as it has for West Bengal in the 2021 Assembly Elections.
Congress is even being abandoned by the Christian community of Kerala which, along with Muslims, was a major vote bank for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). The rising dominance of Muslims in Congress and UDF together forced the Christians to incline more towards the LDF and the BJP.
The minority appeasement policy of the UDF was a rallying point for the BJP, which tried to consolidate the Hindus by combining the Nair, Ezhava, Brahmin, and the Scheduled Caste votes. Although, the BJP cannot bank much on the minority voters, it certainly is targeting the upper caste Hindus who have been splintered between Congress and the Left so far.
Yogi Adityanath’s rally would re-energise the Hindus of the state who are at odds with the state power. A Hindu nationalist government in the state of Kerala is the only check that Hindus can have against the rising power of Communists and Islamists, who often collaborate to subjugate the Hindus.