Set back by nuns' arrest in Chhattisgarh, how Kerala BJP is trying to make up to Christians
Admitting that the issue had 'slowed down' the party's interaction with the Church leadership, a BJP leader said the 'setback was temporary'. 'We are telling the churches that only the BJP made sincere efforts to secure bail for the nuns. Many Bishops in Kerala have acknowledged our party's stand on the issue,' the leader said on the condition of anonymity.
In the aftermath of the row triggered by the arrest of the nuns on charges of forced conversion and human trafficking, state BJP leaders have been meeting the Christian clergy to convince them that it was 'positive' interventions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah that facilitated bail for the nuns, who were in judicial custody for nine days following their arrest on July 25.
Despite the controversy, the BJP has a reason to cheer as not all churches are on the same page over the issue. Archbishop Joseph Pamplany, who has emerged as a key voice of the powerful Catholic Church, has attested to the role of the BJP's national leadership in securing relief for the nuns. This was in stark contrast to the stand taken by his fellow Bishop Pauly Kannookkadan who, in a pastoral letter, said the BJP governments at the Centre and Chhattisgarh did not make any move to secure the release of nuns.
After the nuns were released, several Bishops and pastors of non-Catholic denominations turned up at the party headquarters to express their gratitude, making the BJP believe that the fiasco had not antagonised the entire Christian leadership in the state where Assembly polls are due in less than a year..
With the local body elections slated for later this year, the BJP is also pushing its 'Viksit Keralam' narrative in a bid to connect with the youth. 'People are worried about issues pertaining to life and livelihood. We can easily connect with Christian youth, who face issues like unemployment and are forced to leave the country in search of jobs. Our approach to the community has been issue-based. We have assured them of remedies,' a leader said.
The BJP's Christian outreach in Kerala, where the party is looking to expand its footprint, has been headed by Modi himself. In April 2023, he met eight bishops of various Christian denominations and is learnt to have sought the community's support for the party. Months later in December, the party commenced a statewide drive called the 'Sneh Yatra' to reach out to the community. Its efforts looked to start paying electoral dividends as the party managed to increase its vote share by over 3 percentage points to 16.68% and won its first Lok Sabha seat in Kerala (Thrissur).
What has BJP concerned
Since then, the BJP doubled down on winning a chunk of the Christian vote. However, the Chattisgarh episode threatened to undo a lot of the work it had done. The party is also wary about Christians and Muslims uniting against it over the issue and is seemingly doing its bit to thwart any such formation.
'The SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami have crept into the Christians' agitation. Christian churches across the country are facing a threat from political Islam. Christians must be vigilant against them,' state BJP vice-president Shone George said. After the nuns' arrest, various Muslim organisations hit the streets, triggering concern in the BJP that the issue would unite the minority communities against it. Over the years, the BJP has managed to gain the support of a section of Christians by seemingly 'thrusting a divide' between the two communities, seen to be the voter base of the Congress.
The BJP's 'damage control' was also visible in the reorganisation of its state-level organisation, which incidentally took place after the controversy erupted. In an unprecedented move, Union Minister George Kurian, national secretary Anil K Antony, state general secretary Anoop Antony Joseph and Shone George found a place in the core committee as against the usual practice of having one face from the community.
While several Sangh affiliates and leaders criticised state BJP chief Rajeev Chandrashekhar's remark that the party was 'convinced that the allegations of conversion against the nuns were not true', recent developments indicate that the state BJP leadership remains unfazed over such criticism vis-à-vis its approach towards Christians.
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