Janaraksha Yatra had leaders galore but failed to pull a crowd

Thiruvananthapuram: The Janaraksha Yatra led by BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan proved that the party lacks crowd-pullers in the state. It had to bring in a host of central leaders, including national president Amit Shah, to create a semblance of public interest. The state leaders, however,  claim that the yatra that covered 11 districts and culminated  at Putharikandam grounds here on Tuesday was  a roaring success against  ‘red terror and jihad.’ But the fact remains that the general public was not  enthused, except in Payyannur  on October 3, the  day national president Amit Shah flagged off the yatra,  and when he joined the padayatra for a few  kilometres here on the concluding day.  

The party put up an unprecedented show with the presence of several BJP chief ministers and almost a dozen union ministers in the yatra on various days.  A  BJP leader on condition of anonymity told DC that the yatra would have reaped dividends if Mr Amit Shah had attended it on the second day in Kannur, especially when the BJP leaders walked in front of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s home at Dharmadom. Even when the yatra passed from Kannur, political violence  occurred there  affecting both the CPM and the BJP workers. “The yatra  succeeded in  energising the BJP workers,”  according to political commentator  B. R. P. Bhaskar.

“The state BJP leaders had to bring in central  leaders who made controversial speeches against the Left government. The BJP wants to trigger a second liberation struggle in Kerala but  times have changed and it is not possible to repeat 1959,” said Mr. Bhaskar.     Central intervention against the  Left government is not a feasible idea, he added. 

The yatra hogged headlines   when  speeches  were made against the LDF government by leaders like Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Goa chief minister Manhohar Parrikar, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,  union information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani, union minister of surface transport Nitin Gadkari and   minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises Giriraj Singh.     Malayalis,  however, responded to the comment  #GougeDa made by BJP national general secretary Saroj Pandey on the social media sites saying that if the Left party continues to “show eyes” to BJP workers in Kerala,  she would respond by “entering homes and gouging out those eyes.”