The swearing in of Suresh Gopi as minister of State in the third Narendra Modi-led NDA Government is a gamechanger in Kerala’s traditional bipolar politics dominated by the CPI(M) and the Congress. Had anyone dared to claim that the BJP would win a parliamentary seat from Kerala, leaders of even fringe political outfits would have scoffed at it.
The declaration made by K Muraleedharan, the Congress candidate who fought against Suresh Gopi at Thrissur just two days before the counting of votes is the best example of how the rivals reacted to the latter’s claim that the BJP would open its account in Kerala and the lotus is all set to bloom this time. “He will open a Bank account and that is what he is claiming. Also, the lotus would bloom as usual in the ponds. But this lotus will wither away on the day of counting,” said Muraleedharan.
It is unlikely that politicians in the State would write off the Hindutva party after what happened in Thrissur. Suresh Gopi won with a majority of 74,686 votes in this constituency which is rated as a citadel of the CPI(M). A considerable section of the Christian population voted for Suresh Gopi in this election as he polled 4,12, 338 votes out of the 10.8 lakh votes cast in the constituency.
The person who ridiculed him, Muraleedharan bite the dust as he was relegated to the third position. “It was not a victory of the BJP alone. Hard work and dedicated public service were the main ingredients of this win,” said Sudheer Damodaran, political critic who had worked for Narendra Modi’s 2014 electoral win at Varanasi.
Narendra Modi had made two whirlwind tours to Thrissur this year. One was to address the public rally and another to attend Sureh Gopi’s daughter’s wedding at Guruvayur. His candidacy from Thrissur was announced even before the poll schedule was released by the Election Commission. Though in the past, names of many film actors were linked to various political parties, Suresh Gopi is the first actor from the State to win an election to parliament.
Though Suresh Gopi had contested from Thrissur in 2019, he could poll 2,93, 822 votes (28.19 per cent) against T N Prathapan of the Congress (4,15,089 votes/39.83 per cent) and Rajaji Mathew of the CPI (3,21,456/30.85 per cent) . Suresh Gopi’s name was announced in the eleventh hour as the BJP could not find any candidate willing to get battered in the poll. But Suresh Gopi, despite his defeat in the hustings, made Thrissur his home turf though he was from Kollam in Southern Kerala. He was present everywhere in the constituency whenever people faced any mishaps or emergencies. Whoever approached him with any needs returned with their hearts and hands full. His public service dis not confine to Thrissur alone and there were no geographic and political barriers.
Suresh Gopi had no roles in the faction ridden Kerala unit of the BJP. ‘Narendra Modi is my political God. It is he who inspires me to work for the public,” he said after it was known on Sunday that he was being inducted in the union council of ministers. Interestingly, this film actor, described as one of the super stars of Malayalam cinema (the other two being Mohan Lal and Mammootti) was at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, far away from New Delhi where jostling for a berth in the ministry was underway. It was a personal phone call from Narendra Modi that made him rush to the national capital.
Poll pundits are likely to take Suresh Gopi’s victory in Thrissur as a case study to learn the intricacies associated with fighting an election. Yet another important rule diligently followed by Suresh Gopi was not to ridicule or humiliate the rival politicians and parties. Even the media in Kerala singled him out to troll and foist cases against him. But he did not react to the provocative comments and allegations even once. This national award winning actor is here to stay in Kerala’s politics for the next one decade and is a living example for the dictum that hard work, dedication, discipline and honesty will pay off.
There is one more development that has come out of Suresh Gopi’s win- Those who had forecast that BJP has no raison d’etre to be in Kerala has started telling that a BJP-centered front would evolve in the State soon.
