BJP to take airwaves route for Kerala Assembly polls

As the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre tightens the FCRA regulations for NGOs in the country, forcing many to shut shop, the Kerala unit of the party is going all out to woo them as it gears up for the State elections due next year.

Working on the rationale that the NGOs are the connecting link to the people, the BJP hopes to reach out to them via community radio stations.

As per the Information and Broadcasting Ministry rules, political parties are not eligible to run a community radio service. That, however, is not going to prevent the BJP Kerala unit from reaching out to people via the humble radio and the social media platform through a network of NGOs sympathetic to the party.

Following the visit of BJP president Amit Shah to the State last month and with the local bodies elections slated for next month, the party has been instructed to exploit these platforms to the hilt. Says M.T. Ramesh, vice president of the State committee, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of the outreach programme, “We are in the process of finalising the political strategy to involve the rural population of Kerala in series of government programmes and party programmes and community radio is one of the best means to reach the people.”

Pro-Modi atmosphere

Mr. Ramesh said the party’s attempts would be towards creating a pro-Modi and pro-BJP atmosphere in the State. While Mr. Ramesh said the BJP would extend all help to like-minded NGOs to operationalise the radio stations, approval for a licence is given by a committee, comprising officials from the Ministry of Home and I&B and association of community radio operators, activists that vets applicants, a process that takes 16 to 18 months.

Said a committee member, indirect ownership of radio channels is an issue that needs to be addressed so that communities own radio stations and not political parties and religious outfits.

While reports of some NGOs from the State having approached the I&B Ministry for a licence are doing the rounds, it was not possible for The Hindu to ascertain their identity.

Mr. Ramesh confirmed that both local bodies elections and State Assembly elections were crucial for the party and they were planning a two-fold package for radio which centred on entertainment and political content in the form of advertisements.