RSS ideologue R Balashankar, who stormed the landscape of Kerala’s electoral politics with an outburst against the style and functioning of the current leadership of the state BJP unit that had denied him the Chengannur seat in the Central Travancore region, says he is a victim of manipulative politics. 

“For me, Chengannur had become a winnable seat with a carefully crafted political strategy. I was based in the constituency for over the past two to three months and worked at the ground level nurturing it. After all, the Central Travancore is a good catchment area for the party,” Balashankar told BusinessLine in an exclusive, wide-ranging interview. Excerpts: 

How is it that you have been denied Chengannur after so much work on the ground with the party’s knowledge?

 I suspect there has been some backroom manoeuvring. There’s a laid down criterion in the BJP for selecting party candidates, prominent among which is ‘winnability.’ If the party were to go by this strictly, there would not have been a better candidate from Chengannur. And I had made it amply clear that I will stand from here alone. I didn’t have an interest in any other seat.

Why is Chengannur so special to you?

Chengannur is a swing constituency and like no other. The main vote bank is Nair, Ezhava and Christian. And here is a constituency where each is equally poised, numerically speaking. Individually, the Nairs are the largest single community. Christians make up an almost equally big community, though falling under different denominations. Of these, the Orthodox Syrian (Christian) Church has 18 per cent of the votes. 

How did you reach out to each of them to make a winnable case for yourself?

 I’ve been involved with the Christian community much before elections became due. It’s all about saving the ancient church property in Chepad that faced demolition from the widening of the NH-66, a sentimental issue that many influential politicians had failed to settle meaningfully. 

When I was told about it, I took a special interest not with any electoral plans in mind merely because it was located at my place of birth. I visited the site and assessed its historical importance and relevance. I got emotionally attached to it, thanks to its sheer spiritual ambience. So I took it upon myself to find a way out. 

The church has a history going back to more than 1,000 years. It stuck to my mind that it could be declared a protected monument. So, I started interacting with people concerned. I first met the Chief Minister and explained that the church was also home to a samadhi of a bishop dating back to 800 years old and that it needs to be saved. Ours was a private meeting, and the Chief Minister grasped the gravity of the issue. No one had conveyed such intimate details. He was glad that I did, and he promised to write to the Centre. 

Simultaneously, I met with the State Governor and submitted a written request and sought his good offices to intervene. He, too, obliged, based on which I travelled back to Delhi and briefed the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Surface Transport Minister. Then I activated the Archaeological Survey of India. The Survey sent down officials and did a resurvey, highlighted the historicity, and recommended making a protected monument. This was conveyed to Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who ordered the highway’s alignment to save the shrine.

So, this single act weaned the Christian community towards you….?

Yes, this made them come out with the statement of how Balashankar has become a saviour, and it said that it would openly support my candidature from Chengannur if I were ready to stand. The church would also issue an appeal with my photograph and seek votes. It is based on their request and assurance that I decided to stand.

I also have a good rapport with both the Nair and Ezhava communities represented by the NSS and the SNDP. Combined with the Christians, they account for 70 per cent of the votes in Chengannur. Then there are the Vishwakarma and Muslim communities. There are an estimated 10,000 Muslim families in the constituency. Needless to say, I had a carefully crafted political constituency in Chengannur. I had built enough stakes and had raised the ‘winnability’ factor many times over.

What has been the voting trend in past elections in Chengannur?

In the last elections, Christians had voted en bloc for Saji Cherian of the CPI(M), the sitting MLA and who belongs to the CSI, another church denomination. Both the Mavelikkara and Chengannur bishops told me that the Orthodox Church had voted en bloc for Saji Cherian. But he had failed to deliver on his promises. So there has been some resentment brewing against him. So, the Church had decided against voting for him this time and instead support Balashankar with an assured 30,000 votes. If Cherian cannot secure at least 50 per cent of this, he is sure to lose this time. 

Did you convince the state leadership of BJP about this?

Yes, I conveyed this to all stakeholders in my party and convinced them that I have a great chance of winning. On retrospect, this seems to have worked against me. Mind you, there is no single constituency in the state from where the party can be considered as the surefire winner. This is true for even the so-called A-plus constituencies where we have come up at the third place, of which Chengannur is one. But my candidature as a prospective winner seems to have upset the calculations of the state leadership of the party which does not want anyone other than its own choice to win.

How do you explain your appeal with the Nairs, Ezhavas and Muslims?

While serving as an advisor to Murli Manohar Joshi, I was able to get clearance for several medical and engineering colleges and technical institutions promoted by these communities and the Christians. Everything about these clearances was transparent, and there was no hanky-panky involved. This had already helped me to develop a strong bond with the leaders of these communities.

There is no other BJP leader in the state who can claim this. None has the skill nor is trained to build spiritual and emotional contact with community elders. For instance, I was granted an exclusive two-and-a-half-long audience with the Catholicate of the Orthodox Syrian Church in Kottayam Metropolitan. No detail has come out in the media on this meeting; I couldn’t care less and didn’t want to go public. All my one-to-one meetings with such venerable heads of various communities have been strictly private. 

So, what’s the takeaway for the party from these exclusive meetings?

This level of rapport and, above all, mutual trust among communities is what we need in Kerala. If the BJP wants to make any meaningful impact in Kerala politics, it cannot work without involving these three communities. But the issue is that anybody managing to win is looked at suspiciously by the current leadership. I was aware of the ground reality. This is clearly why I said from the beginning that my interest would be Chengannur only. Had I won from here (which was a given, according to me), this would have become a template for the party to win from even other constituencies. 

This is because the party winning a seat from Central Travancore would become the first barometer of the Nair-Christian-Ezhava mobilisation's success in its favour and therefore of great symbolic value. But this was clearly not to the liking of the party leadership, and in this manner, many winnable seats are being squandered merely because it cannot see beyond its nose. If somebody has to win, he or she must belong to the current leadership of the party. It will go to any extent to kill the prospects of any other aspirant. This is where its mafia-like role becomes apparent. 

Are you disappointed with the goings-on at the party?

Politics is now a business, no more a mission or a service for the public. If you have the power at the Centre, you wield it to the hilt in the state with no questions asked. You use power to blackmail, threaten, extort, and whatnot. Since there is no power in the state, there’s no responsibility. When you are in control, you have certain limitations and need to be transparent because you are always in public glare. But when you are out of power but have a powerful Centre behind you, you can get away with anything. 

Were you driving a parliamentary dream while pitching a tent in Chengannur?

I don’t have any such dreams. If indeed I had some, I could have managed anything much earlier from the Centre or at New Delhi, where I have been based for long. Narendra Modi Ji knows me well, and I could’ve lobbied for anything and got whatever I wanted. While forming the government at the Centre, other senior leaders too had approached me seeking to know if I wanted to join. I politely refused everything saying that I would like to work for the party. 

Where does the party in Kerala go from here?

The party has been at work here during the last so many years but has not achieved anything big. But I know it has an opportunity here. There is a craze for Modi Ji in the state, and there is a craze for a change. If we can capitalise on it, the BJP has enough space to be in…the Central Travancore area is a catchment area for it. 

But the party is stagnant in Malabar. All constituencies in Malabar have got an assured 50,000+ votes which are hard to penetrate. It is not as if we don’t want Muslim votes. But it will take time to win them over. It needs a patient, and nuanced approach. Left to me, I’m confident I would be able to do it to some extent since I have built up some rapport already with the community. I’ve friends in the Muslim League as well as those Muslim leaders even in the Left Front. 

I know all of them at a very different level. It is doable, but we must have something to stand on first. This would have been made easy in Central Travancore. My father was one of the founding leaders of the Christian-led Kerala Congress. I have personally interacted with late KM Mani, a Kerala Congress titan and many-time Finance Minister in the state, who was very close to my father. 

Why is that none of them has associated with the BJP-NDA in Kerala?

There was a time when the Kerala Congress would have been part of the NDA. But as I said earlier, the party leadership made a mess of it by calling the widely respected Mani names after being featured in a controversy. The party leadership has antagonized leaders of other parties as well. LK Advani Ji had the highest regards for KM Mani as the longest-serving parliamentarian and finance minister in Kerala. There was a time when he was very keen on coming into the NDA. Even son and current party Chairman Jose K Mani has been keen.

Leaders from Congress are willing to join the NDA, but the front leadership fears it would be eclipsed by luminaries joining in. First and foremost, you have to have a generous mindset. Nobody can afford to have a close mind in politics and hope to win. You must be willing to share power. Everybody is in politics for power only. There has to be a clear strategy to attract local/regional leaders. There is a real opportunity to replace Congress in Kerala.

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