The Kerala BJP on Sunday observed that the all-Kerala Jana Raksha Yatra the party had held from October 3-17 against ‘Jehadi and Red Terror’ was a huge success as it could instill a new energy in the entire organisation and its associated outfits and had helped in enhancing the central leadership’s confidence in the State party unit.
A meeting of the State BJP core committee held on Sunday concluded that the yatra could openly attract certain sections of the Kerala society that had been supportive of the party but had hitherto remained passive. The Yatra had also helped the party reassert itself as a strong Opposition party in the left-ruled State, the meeting observed. The top leadership of the State unit came under some criticism at the meeting for not devoting enough time and attention to the October 11 Assembly by-election in Vengara in Muslim-majority Malappuram district in which party candidate K Janachandran was pushed to the fourth place behind even the candidate of Islamist Social Democratic Party of India.
However, members of the core committee refused to find fault with the top leaders for this electoral weakness as their energies and attention were focused entirely on the Jana Raksha Yatra. In fact, there was a drop of more than 20 per cent in the votes polled by the BJP candidate in Vengara compared to the performance in the 2016 election.
Inspired by the Yatra’s success, the party core committee decided to continue with its campaigns against the political violence being allegedly perpetrated by the CPI(M) in the State and intensify its agitations against the lDF Government by cashing in on the charge of land and lake encroachment by NCP’s Transport Minister Thomas Chandy’s hospitality company.
The party also decided to hold mega rallies against the black money culture on November 8 on the occasion of the first anniversary of demonetisation. It also discussed the measures to be adopted for the next general election with the goal of making maximum possible contribution to Amit Shah’s Mission 350-Plus plan.
The committee was of the view that the presence of top national leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, Union Ministers, BJP CMs, at the yatra captained by State president Kummanam Rajasekharan helped in reinvigorating the party right from the grassroots level. The same strategy could be adopted for the next election, it felt.