Battleground Kerala: Fight for Hindu votes, Sabarimala back in spotlight

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God's own country is gearing up for polls and the Sabarimala temple issue is back in the spotlight. The Congress is planning to bring legislation on women's entry into the temple, seeking a jail term for those breaking the age-old tradition. While the BJP has claimed that the temple's land 'usurped by tacit support of the UDF and LDF' would be retrieved and handed over to the devotees. 

The assembly elections in Kerala are expected in April-May, so the Congress lost no time in making public a draft of the legislation, and the BJP has planned to hold discussions with the people before making the land issue a part of its election manifesto. 

The announcements, however, have sent shock waves across the ruling Left Democratic Front led by CPM's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Because the left alliance has already paid a price for dilly-dallying over the issue in 2018 when Kerala witnessed large-scale violence and arrests. 

The 2018 protests led to the Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple and the Pinarayi government had filed an affidavit in the court against banning the entry. In the general elections the next year, the LDF lost 19 out of 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. 

 
'Secular' Congress plays Hindutva card
 
A year later, when the voters of Kerala turned the tide in the LDF's favour in the local body polls and the party became hopeful of returning to power, the 'secular-congress' played the religion card to woo the Hindu majority in the state.

Ironically, the announcement to bring a law against women's entry has been made by the grand old party while a larger bench of the Supreme Court is reviewing its verdict on Sabarimala.

The left leaders are calling it an election stunt by the Congress as any such legislation is bound to meet the legal hurdles. The BJP also has called it a gimmick, claiming that the Congress has never been serious about Sabrimala.

But as things stand, during the 2018 temple protests, the two opposition parties were up against the LDF govt in Kerala and the issue has taken the centre stage yet again before the assembly elections. Now both BJP and Congress have mounted pressure on the Pinarayi Vijayan government to withdraw cases against the Sabarimala protesters. 
 
Development and Hindutva BJP's poll plank

Kerala has a history of the Congress-led UDF and CPM-led LDF taking turns to power. The Congress was buoyant after the 2019 parliamentary election results, but the victory in the local polls last year has made the UDF confident of breaking the decades-old cycle and regaining the mandate to rule.

The battle is not that simple though with the BJP also emerging as a big challenger in the race, eyeing the Hindu majority votes. Interestingly, Kerala has about 54.73% Hindus, 26.56% Muslims and 18.38% Christians population, and the BJP-RSS combine have been working very hard to mobilise the Hindu votes since 2014. O. Rajagopal became the first BJP leader to win a seat from Nemom constituency in the 140-seat Kerala assembly in 2016.

In addition to that, the BJP has also improved its tally in the local body polls in comparison to 2015. 

Now with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself turning his focus to Malabar, launching a slew of projects and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath set to flag off party's 'Vijaya Yathra' on 21 February from Kerala's Kasaragod, the BJP seems battle-ready for the polls on the plank of both development and Hindutva.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of India TV )