As Kerala and Tamil Nadu get into poll mode for the Assembly elections due next year, the BJP has shifted gears in its push for a headway in the two states. If in Kerala, it has diluted shrill Hindutva to focus on development issues, in Tamil Nadu, the BJP has chosen to take the backseat to secure an alliance with the AIADMK. “Definitely, there is a change in the party’s approach to these two states. The recent changes in the organisation show that too,” says a BJP national office-bearer, pointing to the appointment of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a former technocrat, as the chief of the BJP Kerala unit, and the replacement of K Annamalai, whose brashness was a thorn in the AIADMK’s side, with the soft-spoken Nainar Nagrendran as head of the party in Tamil Nadu. The senior BJP leader adds: “The party will continue Annamalai’s aggressive politics, but these will be against the DMK and not the AIADMK now. The AIADMK is our natural ally in Tamil Nadu, and its leader Edappadi K Palaniswami (a former chief minister) will be our leader. The BJP will centre its politics around what the AIADMK wants… Their priorities will be the NDA’s priorities.” Admitting there were various issues where the BJP’s approach has been seen as Delhi-centric, at the cost of Tamil Nadu, the BJP leader says the party will adopt “a nuanced approach” on these. BJP leaders point to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent visit to Tamil Nadu, where he announced the renewal of its alliance with the AIADMK, as a sign of the party’s new approach. At a press conference, Shah declared: “We will ensure a government that fulfills the vision of the great MGR and J Jayalalithaa.” This was a far cry from 2023, when ahead of snapping ties with the BJP, the AIADMK had passed a resolution against Annamalai for “insulting” Jayalalitha and other Dravidian icons repeatedly. “Shah’s remarks made it clear that the BJP wants the alliance to work at any cost,” says a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu. The presence of the AIADMK by its side will also help the BJP dilute the M K Stalin-led DMK’s claims that the Centre is “biased” against Tamil Nadu, citing delimitation, devolution of funds and changes in the education system, among other things. “The party’s attempts in the coming days would be to shift the Chennai-vs-Delhi narrative set by CM Stalin to the ‘misdeeds’ of the DMK government,” the BJP leader says. In Kerala, the BJP has decided on a more moderate line on Hindutva issues realising the need to attract the Christian vote along with Hindus to make inroads in the state. Muslims and Christians together constitute around 45% of the state’s population. Since Muslims will not vote for the BJP, the party is focusing on Christians, with the growing strain between the two minority groups in Kerala easing this. While the BJP has expanded its visibility in Kerala, it has been unable to make much impact electorally – its sole Assembly seat came in the 2012 Assembly elections; and in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it secured only one constituency despite the NDA increasing its vote share to 19.14% (a steady rise from 10.8% in the 2014 general elections). “What we got in the 2024 elections is almost the maximum the NDA can win in the state with its current image,” a senior BJP leader familiar with the functioning of the party in Kerala says. Since he took over as the Kerala BJP chief, Chandrasekhar has held several meetings with Church leaders of different denominations. His new teams in districts have a considerable representation from the OBC, SC, ST and Christian communities. As it targets the Christian vote, the BJP has managed to send alarm bells ringing among the ruling CPI(M) and main opposition Congress. On the changes to the Waqf Act roiling the Muslim community, for example, both the CPI(M) and Congress are treading carefully. The Kerala government has also ignored appeals by the Muslim community to pass a resolution in the state Assembly against the Act. During the recent controversy over the Malayalam movie L-2 Empuraan, with scenes apparently reminiscent of the 2002 Gujarat riots, BJP leaders took a measured stance rather than rushing to protest. The party even directed its leaders to refrain from commenting on the controversy, and went to the extent of suspending a local leader for filing a petition seeking a ban on the movie. According to sources in the party, a recent “ground assessment” showed that Kerala’s youth increasingly felt alienated from the two major fronts in the state. Sources said that the national leadership has briefed Chandrasekhar to focus on development, and to project that the BJP is the only one capable of addressing the aspirations of the youth. Chandrasekhar told The Indian Express: “My mission is to transform Kerala into a growth economy – into a state where youth, farmers, fishing communities see the government creating opportunities for them. And into an economy that attracts investments and jobs, and a state that joins the mainstream of development and is no longer relegated to the highest unemployment, the highest inflation and the lowest investment state.” “Chandrasekhar’s image and the message he tried to give are in line with the agenda the BJP would like to unveil in Kerala,” the leader says.
