Speaking at the Pattikajathi Sangamam (Scheduled Caste convention) organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s SC Morcha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “It will not be long before the lotus blooms in Kerala too.” The event took place in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, September 3. Shah claimed that the BJP is the only future for Kerala because the Congress and the Communists — the two major political forces in the state — have lost their relevance.
“One after the other, the Congress is slowly losing all of its strongholds in the country, while the world got rid of Communists long back. Only a regime led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can bring the state to the path of development and prosperity,” Shah said.
“Modi believes that the nation would not achieve development without uplifting the SC/ST communities,” Shah said, further claiming that neither the Congress nor the Communist governments have done anything substantial to better the lives of SC/ST communities besides using them as vote banks. Citing examples of the BJP’s efforts towards the empowerment of the marginalised, he said that the party had first selected Ramnath Kovind (who hails from an SC community) to the office of President of India, and Draupadi Murmu (an ST leader) during its second term. Shah also recounted the BJP government’s decision to posthumously confer Dr BR Ambedkar with the Bharat Ratna. “This happened only after the Congress was voted out of power,” he said.
The Minister also appreciated the BJP cadre in Kerala for their courage, in an apparent reference to the frequent political killings in the state. “If BJP workers elsewhere in the country only need patriotism to function, those in Kerala also need the strength to sacrifice their lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) Politburo Member MA Baby responded to Shah’s remark that the lotus would soon bloom in Kerala, calling it a ‘daydream’. “Amit Shah doesn’t seem to have realised that the lotus that had bloomed in one Assembly segment in Kerala has also withered away now,” he said, further accusing the BJP of engaging in a corrupt politics that thrives off of buying MLAs from other parties.
United Democratic Front (UDF) convenor MM Hassan also hit back at Shah. “The BJP tried its best to make inroads in the state several times but failed. In fact, its voting percentage is going down in every election,” he said.
Shah also extended his greetings to people of the state on the occasion of Onam, a 10-day-long festival that celebrates the homecoming of the mythological lower caste King Mahabali, whose rule was ended by a Brahmin boy named Vamana, believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu. “Every Indian is proud of Kerala’s rich culture and heritage. Blessed to be in the beautiful state on the auspicious festival of Onam,” he later tweeted. Shah’s wishes of ‘Vamana Jayanthi’ on the occasion of Onam in previous years have invoked significant public criticism from different corners in Kerala, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and then Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.