Rap on the knuckles for BJP, body blow for LDF

Both will have to rework their priorities and strategy on crucial issues

The Lok Sabha poll outcome that gave a rap on the knuckles for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State unit and rendered a body blow to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) could be construed as a wake up call to rework their priorities and strategy on crucial issues.

The traditional LDF bastions such as Alathur, Palakkad, Kannur, Kasaragod, Vadakara, and Attingal were swept off by the United Democratic Front wave that lashed across the State. While the CPI(M) got one seat, the CPI drew a blank. The confidence exuded by the LDF right from the launch of the campaign to retain at least three seats in the south and sustain its unchallenged supremacy in North Kerala has now eroded.

The front was resting its hopes on minority consolidation to overcome a polarisation of majority community votes triggered by the Sabarimala agitation headed by the Sangh Parivar. But the hard Hindutva line adopted by the BJP and the candidature of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad seem to have set the ground for a massive swing in minority votes in favour of the UDF.

The LDF that was hopeful of winning groundswell of support from the Dalit and other backward communities on the Sabarimala issue and a neorenaissance movement it had launched by mobilising women will have to find out whether such sections have heeded as expected.

Need for introspection

An introspection and thorough review of LDF policies and strategies have become imperative in the face of the verdict. The CPI(M) would have to seriously explore whether there was an erosion in its votebank with regard to its stance on the Sabarimala issue and also whether the LDF as a whole was able to reap the best results out of a clutch of welfare and development programmes initiated by the State government during the past three years.

The front would have to open the vestibule again for talks with various community organisations, different denominations of the Christian community and others for winning their confidence well before the local body elections due next year.

The results have give a rude jolt to the BJP that had boasted of resounding win in four segments, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thrissur, and Palakkad, that it hoped to win on the strength of the Sabarimala movement.

Poor show

But for increasing its vote share in certain Assembly segments and emerging runner-up in Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP could not register an impressive performance even in Pathanamthitta, which was the hotbed of Sabarimala agitation. This was in spite of a high voltage Hindutva campaign it had launched with an eye on the Hindu votes.

The diatribe of BJP president Amit Shah on Wayanad, comparing the constituency with Pakistan and other such pronouncements of prominent leaders with strong religious overtones whipped up a fear psychosis among the minority communities. It eventually forced them to vote for the Congress that they considered as a natural bulwark to the BJP.

The setback would yet again trigger schism in the BJP and also lead to a war of words for its organisational failure in making use of the opportunity that was considered to be conducive for opening account in the State.