Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is in Kerala to take part in the ongoing Janaraksha Yatra being taken out by the State unit of the BJP, said on Wednesday that ‘love jihad’ has been rearing its head in the State, and the Kerala government is taking no steps to curb it.

He cited the recent instance of Hadia, a young Hindu woman who had converted to Islam to marry a Muslim.

Adityanath was unsparing in his criticism of Congress-ruled Karnataka as well, where too, he said, this seems to have taken roots. There’s a pattern in how ‘love jihad’ has spread under the patronage of ‘pliable governments’ in the respective States, he added.

The UP CM asked the Kerala government to decisively act against ‘love jihad’, which he said has invited strictures from even the Supreme Court.

Will the ploy work?

Meanwhile, observers are of the view that the BJP’s ploy of bringing in the firebrand icon of Hindutva to Kerala might backfire in as much as it could lead to an unexpected consolidation of minority votes.

Normally, the consolidation of minority votes should go to benefit the Congress, but given the latter’s unenviable political state of being, it is likely that the ruling Left Front might gain by default.

The BJP could also shoot itself in the boot and see the ‘Alphons Kannanthanam effect’ getting neutralised as Adityanath’s presence is thought to have unnerved the Christian community, which the BJP had hoped to woo.

Janaraksha Yatra attempts to hold a mirror to the atrocities being perpetrated in States such as CPI(M)-ruled Kerala and Tripura, said Adityanath. The communists are not allowing the BJP cadres to carry on with their work in these States, he added.

There is no place for criminals in politics, but in Kerala, the reverse is the truth, he said. Criminalised cadres of the ruling CPI(M) seem to have hatched a plan to systematically eliminate BJP workers. This would not be allowed, he added.

The CPI(M) had tweeted its welcome from the handle @cpimspeak, saying: “We invite UP CM Yogi to visit Kerala hospitals to learn how to run hospitals effectively!” The reference was to the death of numerous children in Gorakhpur recently due to alleged lack of life-support systems.

Speaking to a TV channel, Adityanath retorted that the Kerala government could take a leaf out of the Uttar Pradesh government’s effective intervention during a dengue outbreak. In Kerala, close to a thousand people had lost lives to dengue in recent times, he said.

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