The induction of former bureaucrat Alphons Kannanthanam into the Union Ministry, which is being interpreted generally as a BJP strategy to make inroads into Kerala’s Christian community, seems to have antagonised the State’s biggest Catholic Church-backed political party, the Kerala Congress (M).
In a clear indication of this, former State Minister KM Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), has expressed the displeasure of his party at Kannanthanam’s appointment by saying that the BJP will not be able to derive any advantage from this and nobody can agree with that party’s policies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted Kannanthanam at a time when the State BJP leadership had been toying with the idea of roping Mani’s party, which has six legislators in the Kerala Assembly, into the NDA. The KC(M) legislators are sitting as a separate bloc since the party severed its alliance of over three decades with the Congress-led Opposition UDF a year ago.
Observers say that Mani himself has not been very averse to this idea, especially after his party’s departure from the UDF. Just before the recent Cabinet reshuffle, many within the KC(M) and outside had expected Mani’s son Jose K Mani, lok Sabha member from Kottayam, to be invited to join the Union Government though Jose himself had claimed this would not happen.
According to State BJP sources, the national leadership also was in favour of the idea of bringing Mani’s party into the NDA, especially after uncertainties began to crop up in it in the State following the continuous attacks against the BJP from Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of SNDP Yogam, the force behind the BDJS, the BJP’s biggest ally in Kerala.
Though Natesan’s son Thushar Vellappally, president of the BDJS, keeps saying that his father’s opinions have nothing to do with his party, even BJP leaders in Kerala are admitting that the relations between them have been strained. There are also reports that Vellappally is keeping his options open for the next lok Sabha election.
“If the BDJS, which has no existence without SNDP Yogam’s support, decides to sever ties with the NDA, the BJP will have to find support from elsewhere to achieve the Mission 350-Plus goal party president Amit Shah has set for the next lok Sabha polls. The new development is to be seen in this context,” says senior journalist BS Panicker.
“We have never said that we will cooperate with the BJP or join the NDA. But we have always maintained that we don’t view any party or front as untouchable,” said a senior leader of the Kerala Congress (M). “I don’t think the BJP will be able to win the hearts of the Church and the Catholics here by promoting Kannanthanam,” he said.
The KC(M) leader said that “any particular community need not support any particular party” just because a leader belonging to that community had been given a high position. “Everybody knows the case of PC Thomas who was made a Minister in the former AB Vajpayee Government. What advantage had the BJP made out of itIJ” he asked.
Though Mar Mathew Arakkal, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kanjirappally, hometown of Kannanthanam, has said that the Church does not have anything against BJP or any other party, senior clergy has made it clear that the welcome the Church had accorded to him as Minister should not be seen as a sign of its political leaning.
Kannanthanam has already met top Catholic clergy in Kottayam, his home district. At the same time, the two main political fronts in the State, the CPI(M)-led ruling lDF and the Opposition UDF, are closely watching how the Catholic community and other Christian churches are responding to the new assignment of Kannanthanam.