BJP's 2004 LS election loss led to cooling of Christian support in Kerala

By Arun Lakshman
Thiruvananthapuram, April 30 The unexpected loss of the BJP and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2004 general elections to a United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dispensation was a major reason for the Christian community of Kerala moving away from the saffron party in Kerala.

Even though P.C. Thomas, the then Union Minister of State for Law and Justice who had the support of a section of the Catholic church while contesting as an NDA candidate in Muvattupzha Lok Sabha seat leading to his wafer thin victory, the BJP in Kerala could not maintain the momentum.

The major reason for the BJP losing out from the close association it had enjoyed was lost as the NDA at the Centre lost the 2004 polls to the Congress-led UPA.

It may be recalled that it was the then Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani who had accommodatedThomas in the Union Cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a bid to break the Kerala conundrum and win the hearts of the Christian community, especially the Syrian Catholic Community which has its own lineage and influence in Kerala.

The powerful Kerala Congress (Mani) leader, K.M. Mani, who was one of the longest serving Finance Ministers of the state and who completed five decades of representing the Pala constituency, had a meeting with L.K. Advani in New Delhi mediated by some senior journalists of the state.

While Mani was open to an alliance with the BJP, he was a bit sceptical leading to his former disciples-turned-political enemies, P.C. Thomas and Skariah Thomas (a two-term Lok Sabha MP) jumping the bandwagon and entering into a political alliance with the BJP. This has led to P.C. Thomas becoming a Union Minister in the Vajpayee cabinet.

Even though P.C. Thomas won the seat inflicting a shocking defeat to both the LDF and UDF in Muvattupuzha, the loss suffered by the NDA at the Centre and the ascendency of a Congress led dispensation resulted in the Syrian Catholic Community and other Christian groups shying away from the move for a political alliance in Kerala with the BJP.

It was crystal clear that if the BJP had come to power in 2004 at the Centre, there would have been a plethora of leaders quitting the Congress, Kerala Congress, and joining the saffron camp or becoming part of an alliance in NDA.

The loss of 2004 kept the Christian groups to take two steps backward.

The back-to-back victories of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the belief and expectations for a third continuous term has made the Church again speak to the RSS and BJP leadership.

The positive inputs from powerful clergy like the Pala and Thalassery Bishops are clear indicators that the Catholic church want to share power and for that it was ready for a covert or overt alliance with the BJP.

The BJP is also playing ball to the Catholic church overtures and Union Minister of State John Barla has been a regular in Kerala and meeting the Catholic church heads, both openly and discreetly.

BJP Kerala state vice president and a former RSS pracharak, A.N. Radhakrishnan was one of the few leaders who climbed the Catholic hill shrine of Malayatoor during the Easter.

This is the first time a leader of the stature of Radhakrishnan had gone on a pilgrimage to Malayatoor.