Before each election in Kerala, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) makes big predictions on winning seats, but each time ends up as a negligible also-ran.
Likewise, prior to the coming state assembly elections due in April-May, the BJP is hoping to capture enough seats to come to power.
This time, Kerala BJP president K. Surendran is counting on Christian votes to garner power in the state.
The scheme, nay, the mission that the party has designed to woo Christian voters has been christened “Operation White Star,” whatever that implies.
Mizoram governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai is going around meeting Christian leaders, including the heads of the Orthodox and Jacobite churches in an apparent bid to mediate and solve long-standing differences between them.
BJP’s national president, JP Nadda, is on a two-day visit to the state, holding meetings with party leaders to strengthen the party’s base in the state.
Katholicasabha, a mouthpiece of Thrissur archdiocese, recently said the dominant political fronts—the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF)—shouldn’t take Christian votes for granted.
The BJP views this statement as an indirect support to it.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is on an overdrive, rallying support for the party.
The BJP’s ideological patron is at work in about 40 assembly constituencies, seeking to canvass voters right from the booth level.
Despite all these efforts, several surveys and experts project that the BJP may win a couple of seats.
Reaching double digits will be a surprising achievement for the party, let alone coming to power in the state.
The party’s aim of dethroning either LDF or UDF using ‘Operation White Star’ maybe akin to the ‘Diamond in the Sky’ line from Nursery rhyme ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, and is unlikely to fructify anytime soon.
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