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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Kummanam Rajasekharan: The face of BJP in Kerala
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Kummanam Rajasekharan: The face of BJP in Kerala

With Rajasekharan's ascent, the BJP and the RSS in Kerala have become more active in taking up campaigns which have Hindu religious identity at their heart, say analysts

Kummanam Rajasekharan says his strong personal and religious convictions give him the courage to stand up to Kerala’s established politicians. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Kummanam Rajasekharan says his strong personal and religious convictions give him the courage to stand up to Kerala’s established politicians. Photo: Hindustan Times

Alappuzha/Kottayam/Thiruvananthapuram: On the way to a party meeting, Kummanam Rajasekharan, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala, takes a detour to a remote village, whose residents have requested his presence at an event in memory of a soldier from the region.

After a brief visit to a Hindu ashram nearby, Rajasekharan arrives at the late soldier’s house, where he is greeted with prayers and traditional sweets. He hoists the national flag, offers flowers and prays in front of a memorial. He urges the crowd to be vigilant against “a fashionable trend, prominent even among reputed artists these times, to disrespect the nation."

After greeting local workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), often identified as supporters of right-wing politics or hyper-nationalists, Rajasekharan leaves.

In a state where its brand of politics has always been tough to sell, the party in the last one year has begun to define the political agenda in a way the Congress or Communists once did, analysts said. The BJP won its first assembly seat, finished a close second in seven other constituencies and doubled its average vote share. Along the way, Rajasekharan is altering the image of BJP from a marginal force to one not coy about asserting what it sees as right.

“BJP in Kerala was a right-centre party, with all the Kerala ethos. Suddenly, someone came and started imitating the North Indian fundas," says N.S. Madhavan, Malayalam writer and social commentator.

With Rajasekharan’s ascent, the BJP and RSS have become more active in taking up campaigns which have at their heart the Hindu religious identity, M.G. Radhakrishnan, editor of Asianet News and political analyst, said in an earlier interview. These campaigns are a notable change from Kerala’s general political discourse of social reform and economic security, he said.

When chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked government officers not to celebrate Onam during office hours and appealed to keep the Sabarimala shrine open throughout the year to avoid the year-end rush, the party sniffed blood. When film director Kamal made negative remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Supreme Court ruling on playing national anthem in cinema halls, it pounced.

Rajasekharan was chosen to head the state unit after he was found the ideal candidate to lead such campaigns, a spiritual leader close to BJP and RSS said, seeking anonymity.

He started off as a journalist, but soon switched to a government job. Later, he rose through the ranks of right-wing outfits such as Hindu Aikya Vedi, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and RSS, acquiring the image of a simple man with strong convictions along the way. While supporters laud his simple living, critics find in him a polarizing figure.

Rajasekharan knows where to bare and where to hide his ideology. When talking to the press, he terms his protests against an airport proposed to be built close to a temple, or opposition to the demand for a church inside a reserve forest as environmental activism. But in public meetings, he plays up the religious angles.

What is the secret of his success? Rajasekharan says his strong personal and religious convictions give him the courage to stand up to Kerala’s established politicians. “I was not a stranger to politics, but my primary interests were in social and spiritual work. When the party asked me to take up this job (president), I was reluctant at first," Rajasekharan said. “Whatever I have done, it’s only because of the support of my party," he says.

What about the charge that he is a polarizing figure? “I’ve become the cause for the Congress and the Communists in Kerala to unite; that is the biggest polarization I’ve made."

“There was always a soft Hindu space in Kerala which was exploited by all parties, consciously and unconsciously, because of the two strong minorities (Muslims and Christians). Now, that is more visible and no longer soft. It has got ownership now," says Madhavan.

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Published: 17 Jan 2017, 10:18 AM IST
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