Kerala: How P C George Joining The BJP Could Benefit The Party

In an important development in Kerala’s political landscape, seven-time MLA and Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) founder P C George is likely to merge his party with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon.

His plan to merge his party could not have come at a better time for the BJP, which has been trying to shore up its support amongst the Christian community in the state through outreach programmes like the Sneha Yatra.

Christians who have traditionally supported the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), are now opening up to supporting the BJP as they are unhappy with issues like love jihad, conversions and the increasing importance of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) within the front.

Community leaders have kept engaging with the BJP and a group of bishops met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Christmas.

The engagement has clearly unnerved the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Saji Cherian, a minister in the LDF government, criticised them by saying that they had forgotten about Manipur after having cake and grape juice.

In what came as a surprise to many, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) hit back saying that such remarks were unbecoming of a minister.

George, a veteran leader, could be the party’s latest Christian face after leaders like Alphons Kannanthanam, Anil Antony and Tom Vadakkan.

While George has said that he would do what the party tells him regarding the Lok Sabha polls, ie, whether to contest or not, he is reportedly seeking the ticket from Pathanamthitta. Poonjar, the assembly segment that he has represented for long, falls under the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat.

Though he may not get the ticket from this seat, as BJP state president K Surendran had contested from the seat in 2019 and did reasonably well (securing a vote share of 28.97 per cent), he could be fielded in Kottayam, where two factions of the Kerala Congress, one with the UDF and the other with the LDF, are planning to put up their candidates.

He would also be useful for the party’s campaign in central Kerala districts like Ernakulam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Kottayam, where Christians are present in large numbers. 

Together, these districts, including Pathanamthitta, (where 47 Christian families recently joined the BJP), have 42 assembly constituencies. Christian votes could potentially help the party in constituencies where it had finished second. 

George could thus become the mass leader from the Christian community that the BJP has been seeking in Kerala since its outreach began.

While leaders like Kannnanthanam, Vadakkan and Antony are well regarded, they are clearly not crowd-pullers and only a mass-leader would be able to address the issues that the community has historically had with the party.