The high-profile launch of the BJP’s State-level Janaraksha Yatra and the participation of the party’s bigwigs, including its president Amit Shah, is well-choreographed to drum up support for its political build-up that Sangh Parivar workers are the main targets of political violence unleashed by the CPI(M) in the State and to draw nation-wide visibility to the campaign.
Mr. Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath chose to be present on key stretches of the yatra, led by BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan, in Kannur district which has for decades been witnessing violent turf wars between workers of the CPI(M), and the BJP and the RSS.
Mr. Shah walked the entire 8-km stretch on October 3 from Payyannur to Pilathara. His participation in the march in areas that are traditionally CPI(M) strongholds not only served as a morale booster for local party workers but also helped the campaign attract nation-wide attention, thanks to the presence of a large number of mediapersons of national TV channels.
The plan to sustain the campaign verve on the second and third day of the yatra in the district has left an impression that Kannur is set to be under the BJP’s political spotlight. The presence of Mr. Shah and Mr. Adityanath helped the BJP mobilise party workers from different parts of the district and neighbouring Kasaragod and Wayanad to march through the pocket boroughs of the CPI(M). The organisational resources of the BJP are on full display during the yatra.
The centrepiece of the yatra that will conclude in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17 is expected to be Mr. Shah's scheduled participation in the march in arguably its crucial stretch – from Mambaram to Thalassery that passes through Pinarayi, the native place of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a CPI(M) stronghold, on Thursday. The passage of the march though this 11-km stretch with Mr. Shah and other leaders of the party at its front will be seen as rich in political symbolism.
The march has raised law and order concerns in the district, the parts of which are already politically very sensitive. The BJP’s ‘political roadshow’ in the CPI(M) strongholds is feared to further heighten the scale of rivalry between workers of the CPI(M) and BJP-RSS. Though the yatra is supposedly against ‘red terror’ and ‘jihadi terror’, the focal point of the yatra in this district is ‘the CPI(M)-sponsored violence’.
