The BJP President is focused on expanding on the BJP's popularity in the elusive southern state
When Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah lands in Kerala, he will be all set to cash in on the Congress and CPM sharing a platform for the upcoming presidential election. Shah's strategy revolves around getting his party to occupy the Opposition space in the state, where it made its electoral debut in last year's Assembly elections.
Shah has a series of meetings lined up — bishops, core committee, intellectuals, party leaders, booth committee, allies, and RSS leaders — during his three-day trip starting Friday, in the course of which he will visit Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
With the public slaughter of a calf by youth Congress workers fresh in public memory, the BJP is trying to milk it for all it's worth by reaching out to non-beef eating Hindus in the state. Hindus, several of whom eat beef in the state, have been largely the support base of the ruling CPM-led LDF. The BJP had aligned with the BJDS, a political party formed by Vellapali Natesan's SNDP, ahead of the Assembly polls, to win over the votes of the Ezhavas, an OBC community.
The environment ministry's order banning sale and purchase of cattle through animal markets for slaughter sparked protests in the state, one of the few in the country that doesn't have any regulation on cow slaughter.
However, the BJP's stand on beef is unlikely to cut much ice in the state, compared to its emotive appeal in cow belt states in the north. Besides, the BJP is also trying to reach out to the Christian community, who form 18-20 per cent of the state's population. Shah will meet with bishops in Kochi. With about 47 per cent minority population, of which Muslims are about 27 per cent, it is critical for the party to get both Hindu and Christian votes.
The Thiruvananthapuram municipal polls, in which the LDF won 43, Congress 20, and BJP 33 seats, has given a boost to the party's morale in the state. The party has also launched a campaign against the Left, saying violence against BJP and RSS leaders has grown since the LDF came to power.
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