In the electionbound states of West Bengal and Kerala, the BJP is wooing Hindu groups in an effort to emerge as a political force.
In the electionbound states of West Bengal and Kerala, the BJP is wooing Hindu groups in an effort to emerge as a political force.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Gaudiya Math in Kolkata on February 21, when he will also attend some government events, is being seen by many as an exercise in this direction. Organisations like Gaudiya Math, Ramakrishna Mission and Iskcon have close to 1.5 crore followers in the state and its campaign would aim at wooing them.
BJP poll managers are of the view that there is unease among a large number of Hindu voters in West Bengal due to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s brazen votebank politics to appease Muslims. The party leaders are also highlighting Ms Banerjee’s sops for imams and Muslim bodies and her government’s “inaction” on the Malda violence to justify the BJP’s Hindutva pitch.
In a similar vein, the party is aggressively wooing several Hindu bodies, many of which are community based, to strengthen its vote share in Kerala, where it has long been a minor player.
Mr Modi had recently attended a function of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, a prominent body of influential Ezhava community, in Kerala and party chief Amit Shah reportedly asked the state leaders at a recent meeting to reach out to various Hindu bodies. It is likely to enter into an electoral alliance with the SNDP.
The party had drawn a blank in the 294 seat West Bengal Assembly and 140 member Kerala House in the last elections but its vote share saw a considerable jump in both states in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It won two LS seats in West Bengal but none in Kerala.
