Despite best efforts, the BJP has failed to make inroads into ‘God's Own Country’
If there is a political party in Kerala that has not made any impact in the State,
it is the Bharatiya Janata Party. Despite frequent visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party national chief JP Nadda, the BJP in Kerala remains on life support system extended by its Central leadership. Perhaps the biggest reason for the party's failure to make a dent in the State
is its choice of local leaders. The Hindutva Party's failure to make an impact in Kerala is mainly because of the party leadership's inefficiency and charges of corruption against them. K Surendran, the incumbent chief of the party is emblematic of the BJP's failure to make any inroads among the electorate. He was the first leader
of a political party in the State to be interrogated by the police in connection with financial embezzlement worth crores of rupees. Surendran figures as an accused in a case of kidnapping and threatening an
independent candidate who contested against
him in the 2021 assembly election. Adding to the woes of the party, Surendran is facing charges of nepotism and favoritism. Harikrishnan, son of Surendran, has been appointed as a technical
officer in Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology,
an autonomous body at Thiruvananthapuram
under the Central Government. The charge is that all laws of the land were violated to appoint Harikrishnan to the institution. Reports coming out of the Centre say that his appointment was enmeshed in mystery and nepotism.
The BJP, which was at the forefront to oppose the appointment of the relatives of CPI(M) leaders as faculty in the universities of the State, has suddenly fallen silent over the issue. The saying ‘Caesar's wife must be above suspicion’ is more applicable to the BJP’s leaders than anybody else. This is not a stand-alone phenomenon in Kerala. The Opposition parties in neighbouring Karnataka, where the BJP is heading the Government, have alleged that corruption is at its peak as Government contracts command a premium of 40 per cent. Prime Minister Modi, in his address to the nation from the Red Fort on the 75th Independence Day, exhorted the people to join him in the fight against corruption, nepotism and dynasty. The thumb rule is that charity should begin at home. Let the BJP prove its sincerity by dumping the corrupt and inefficient from positions of power.