Thiruvanthapuram: After the last month’s arrest of two Catholic nuns in Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its outreach towards the Christian community ahead of the local body polls in Kerala.
According to BJP leaders, the party has begun a door-to-door campaign among the Christian community at the local body level, intended to spread its ideologies as well as to counter the so-called “misunderstandings spread by the Congress.”
The party, they said, is only advocating for equal rights for all communities and maintained that the nuns’ arrest in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh had not damaged its relationship with the church. According to party functionaries, the BJP is also holding a workshop Wednesday for its minority morcha functionaries from across Kerala in Kottayam for training on outreach strategy.
The party, which has been actively trying to increase its footprint ahead of the local body and Assembly polls, had found itself in a tight spot after the two nuns—Sisters Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis—were arrested for alleged conversion and human trafficking.
While the Kerala unit maintained that it would support the nuns in securing bail, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai defended the arrests, while the Bajrang Dal’s involvement in the arrest further put the party on the defensive.
The arrests triggered protests across Kerala, led by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), and church bodies, who accused the BJP of “double standards.” The nuns were granted bail 2 August after being in custody for nine days, days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured Kerala MPs that the Chhattisgarh government would not oppose their bail plea.
Following the bail, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) had thanked the central and Chhattisgarh governments for their intervention. Barely two weeks after the bail, the two nuns had met BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar at his Delhi residence.
“There is a misunderstanding about the BJP in the state spread by Congress. We are trying to overcome that,” BJP state vice-president Shone George, who is directly overseeing the party’s Christian outreach, told ThePrint.
George claimed the Christian community knows that the intervention of the Union government ensured bail of the nuns, while other parties merely protested. He said the party will continue the outreach despite setbacks and that the party’s district leaders visited the house of bishops frequently, with the latest being on Onam.
“The Christian community in the state is politically aware. They know they can’t raise their demands with the Congress or the CPI(M). But with the BJP, it’s possible,” he said.
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‘Practical’ outlook
A BJP minority morcha functionary from Ernakulam told ThePrint that the party’s campaign strategy focuses on “three to four households,” at one time highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development vision and outlining the “social reality” of Kerala.
“Many have already realised that it’s difficult for Christians to even survive in Kerala,” he said, adding that the campaign was crucial in gaining the trust of the community following the arrest of the nuns. “We wouldn’t have been able to convince the community of our intentions if we hadn’t started the campaign.”
Kottayam workshop, the functionary said, would roll out the blueprint for the next two months of the campaign, as it’s currently run by only a few minority morcha functionaries.
Christians constitute 18.38 percent of Kerala’s population, according to the 2011 Census. The community is diverse and powerful, comprising many denominations such as the Latin Catholics, Syrian Christians, Protestants, and Pentecostal groups.
The Catholic bloc, consisting of the Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, and Latin Catholic churches, is the most influential among the community, which runs schools, hospitals, and other institutions across the state. The bloc functions through the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), which coordinates joint statements, while the national body is the CBCI.
According to the CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey, around 5 percent of Kerala’s Christians voted for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a historic first. The party’s overall vote share rose to 16.68 percent from 13 percent in 2019. Christian support was crucial in the BJP’s first-ever Lok Sabha victory in Thrissur, a constituency with a significant Christian population, where actor-politician Suresh Gopi won.
“The BJP is mostly focusing on the Catholic church. The top establishment has reconciled to a pro-BJP stance, though without overt ties. But at the grassroots level, we still have to see if this will translate electorally,” political analyst K.P.Sethunath said, adding that churches depend on the Union government for institutional support and functioning of their institution, which forms a crucial aspect of their approach towards the BJP.
“As for the Syro-Malabar church in Kerala, issues like Manipur are not their primary concern. The church was completely silent during the arrest of Stan Swamy, but reacted strongly when nuns associated with it were arrested,” Sethunath said.
Meanwhile, a KCBC official told ThePrint that the church does not endorse any party, but takes a practical approach depending on local issues. He noted that the BJP’s outreach has intensified after Chandrasekhar was appointed the state president.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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