Kerala: BJP opens account with Suresh Gopi’s Thrissur win

Mangalore Today News Network

Thrissur, June 5, 2024: The RSS-BJP outreach in Kerala paid off as the saffron brigade opened its account in Lok Sabha elections in Kerala for the first time on Tuesday. Suresh Gopi, a prominent actor-turned-politician, secured a significant victory in the Thrissur constituency in coastal Kerala.

This is significant achievement as it marks the BJP’s inaugural entry into Kerala’s parliamentary representation. The party increased it vote share by around 3%, from around 15% in 2019 to around 17% vote share in 2024 elections.

Gopi’s victory in Thrissur was achieved with a substantial margin of 74,686 votes over his closest rival from the Communist Party of India (CPI), advocate VS Sunil Kumar.

But in big upset for the party, Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar was defeated by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram by around 16,000 votes.

Over the past two years, the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP have been intensifying their outreach efforts among the Christian communities in Kerala, aiming to expand influence and strengthen their organizational base in the state.

Starting from Sneha Yatra (door-to-door campaign) deep inside the non-Hindu belts of Kerala, holding repeated meetings with some specific sections of Christian communities, specifically with the Syro-Malabar communities, to PM Narendra Modi’s strong thrust over Kerala yielded results for the party.

The outreach programmes involved several strategies, including house visits, engaging with opinion makers, and organising large-scale community programs.

In December, PM Modi hosted Christian community leaders and members at his official residence, which was one-of-a-kind gesture.

The Christian community exercise took prominent shape when PM Modi attended an event and met a delegation of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and another delegation of eight bishops in Kerala in April last year.

Christian ‘key’ to Kerala

Thrissur, where BJP’s Suresh Gopi won, has sizeable Christian voters. The constituency has around 58% of Hindu vote share, while the Christian vote share is around 24%. Muslim vote share in the seat is around 17%.

The state has been witnessing a significant transformation not only in its electoral politics but also in its societal issues. Among the state-specific results in recent elections, Kerala stands out as a story of shifting dynamics.

This is one of the few states where the BJP has experienced a substantial rise. From a modest vote share of around 10% in the 2014 general elections, the party increased its share to approximately 15% in 2019. This steady growth underscores the BJP’s expanding influence in the state, which has traditionally been dominated by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF).

RSS-BJP’s Sneha Yatra, a door-to-door campaign in non-Hindu areas of Kerala, has played a crucial role in the BJP’s growing influence in the state. The programme was meant to build a socio-cultural bond with the community that constitutes 17% of Kerala’s population, said a senior BJP leader. “It has significantly contributed to the rise in vote share,” he added.