PS Sreedharan Pillai's appointment as Kerala BJP chief may placate minorities, but will that help the party?

The appointment of PS Sreedharan Pillai as Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kerala president is seen as an indication that the saffron party will be softening its Hindutva line in the southern state in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The party’s central leadership seems to have realised that the party may not be able to achieve its target of winning 12 Lok Sabha seats in the southern state with a minority population of 46 percent by banking on Hindus alone. The Hindu share is 56 percent. Kerala is among seven states that BJP is looking for gains to compensate possible losses in the north and the west to retain power in 2019. Ironically, the Hindu focus his predecessor Kummanam Rajashekharan followed in the state for the last three years could not help the party in consolidating its Hindu vote base, even after bringing several Hindu, Dalit and tribal organisations under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold. An analysis of the 2016 Assembly election voting showed that the NDA could garner only 18 percent of the lower caste Ezhava votes despite forging an alliance with the community’s political arm, the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS). [caption id=“attachment_4669141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] BJP national president Amit Shah was in the lookout for a leader who would be more acceptable to all communities after Rajashekharan was packed off to the eastern state of Mizoram as governor amid Chengannur by-election two months ago. Pillai, who was not in the race for the post, was picked up by the party chief after a secret survey commissioned by Shah put him ahead among the contenders with 39.5 percent support. A section of the party leaders in the state feel that Pillai topped the list as he is perceived to be a moderate leader with a secular face. “We need such a leader at a time when the party is gearing up to face a crucial poll. We cannot achieve our target in Kerala without the support of the minorities as they have decisive presence in most constituencies. We are confident that Pillai can win the confidence of the minorities as they consider him as a mature and respectable leader,” says BJP’s minority morcha state president Jiji Joseph. Pillai, who led the party from 2003 to 2006, told Firstpost that his priority would be to reach out to the minorities. He said he was confident of bringing the minorities close to the party without diluting the core ideology of the party. The 64-year-old lawyer-turned-politician does not consider the task insurmountable since the party could make inroads into several Christian-dominated states like Goa, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura. Pillai pointed out that an NDA ally could also win a Lok Sabha seat from a Christian stronghold in Kerala in 2004. “Minorities had many apprehensions when the party came to power for the first time under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The apprehensions fueled by the Congress and other non-BJP parties were proved misplaced. The four-year-rule by Narendra Modi has instilled further confidence among the minorities,” he claimed. “When the Kerala unit of the party sought a representation to the state in the union ministry, the prime minister picked up a Christian. Modi has been sensitive to the sentiments of the minorities. This has made minorities change their approach to the BJP,” Pillai claimed. He said that he had pushed the Congress to third position in a Muslim pocket in the Chengannur by-election. He sees this as a strong indication that the perception of the Muslims towards the BJP is changing. “The minorities, who forms the backbone of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), have started deserting the coalition. The CPM is trying to woo them by projecting itself as the protector of the minorities. This is for the sake of power. We will expose this and attract them to BJP,” Pillai added. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president MM Hassan said that Pillai’s calculations will remain a dream that will never be fulfilled. “The minorities will not fall into the BJP trap as their ultimate aim is Hindutva India. Minorities are no fools not to realise this,” he said. T Sasidharan, associate professor and head of the department of political science, Sree Narayana College, Kannur, agrees with Hassan. In fact, he feels that it will not be easy for BJP to make further inroads even into the majority community in the state. “The numerically superior lower caste Hindus consider BJP as an upper caste party. They have not gained anything from the BJP dispensation. Most of the lower caste organisations, including the BDJS, that the party brought under the NDA fold, are disenchanted with the BJP,” Sasidharan told Firstpost. He said that even the upper caste Hindus were not comfortable with the BJP brand of Hindutva. The majority community in the state have a strong tradition of secularism. They will not abandon that for political gains, he said. In fact, the Nair Service Society (NSS), a socio-cultural organisation of the upper caste Nair community, has been rebuffing the BJP’s attempts to woo them into the united Hindu fold. The organisation, which swears by secularism, has ruled out any bonhomie with the Sangh Parivar, saying that they don’t want to be seen as a saffron outfit. Sasidharan said that the attempt by the BJP to rake up the temple issue in the run up to the Lok Sabha election may further alienate the Hindus in Kerala from the BJP. “If the party is planning to fight the coming election on the temple issue, it will not win even a single seat in the state,” he added. He said BJP may not gain much from appointing a moderate leader as the party president as long as the core ideology of the party remain unchanged. Pillai cannot go outside the party’s ideological framework. Sasidharan said that the killings going on in north India in the name of cows may also make Pillai’s task to win the support of minorities difficult. Though there is no cow-related violence in Kerala, the lynchings of the minorities elsewhere and the isolated attacks on Christian groups in the north will confound the fears of the minorities against BJP. He also doubts whether the RSS, which has a strong network in Kerala, will allow Pillai to sell his secular face to attract the minorities. To add to his discomfiture, the party is mired in severe factionalism. The two groups led by V Muraleedharan and PK Krishnadas, both former state presidents, are unhappy with Pillai’s appointment. The Muralidhran group, which lobbied for K Surendran, displayed its displeasure by keeping off a reception the party workers organised for the new president at Kozhikode on Tuesday. Political observers feel that it will not be easy for Pillai, who is not identified with either group, to keep the flock together. “There are no groups in the BJP. It is only the differences in the family. They can be ironed out. I perceive the responsibility as a challenge. I humbly believe the time is ripe in the state for the growth of BJP. The party would hold high the mantra – opportunity to all and favouritism to none. I’m hopeful,” Pillai said.