Interview | This will be last election in Kerala where 3 coalitions are contesting: BJP’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar

KErala BJP chief and former unification government minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in an question with HT predicts the upcoming assemblage polls testament be the last one with three coalitions in the state and that future elections will see an NDA versus INDIA bloc contest. Edited excerpts:In your first assembly election from Nemom, the only seat the BJP has ever won in Kerala, you are up against a sitting CP(M) minister and a former Congress MLA. How confident are you? It’s not only Nemom that’s under the spotlight. The BJP is contesting more than one seat in this election — that is our avowed objective. As we had won from Nemom in the past, our expectations are higher here. Our main campaign in Nemom is the same as the one across the state. The people have given opportunities to the Left and Congress and have only received high unemployment and high inflation. Issues that a responsible MLA should have solved remain unsolved. In Nemom, 45-50% live with open drains and sewage beside homes. Around 40% people don’t have access to drinking water. In 60% of the constituency, there are no motorable roads. There are power and solid waste management issues. We have put forward a comprehensive plan if elected as MLA by showcasing the politics of ethos and performance. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, despite being new, we got a 22,000-vote lead in Nemom. I have been working here for two years. I’ve worked here for two years, built a Sainik school and modernised the Nemom railway station — without any political post. People see my track record. I start campaigns saying, “If you elect me, this is what I will do.”As the BJP state chief, do you have an estimate or target in terms of vote-share or seats for the BJP? No. I am not a political pundit, but I have common sense. This is an important election for Kerala, and it’s an inflexion point in several ways. This will be the last election in which three coalitions are contesting. After this, there will be only two coalitions — the NDA on one side, and a formal understanding between the CPI(M) and Congress, which is anyway happening across India. For the last 70 years, people have been served a type of politics where anti-incumbency against the Left benefits the Congress and vice versa. After 10 years of CPM rule, we have the highest inflation and joblessness, lowest investments, zero economic activities and zero progress in the agriculture and fishing sectors. Before 2014, people had seen 10 years of Congress rule at the Centre. Post 2014, people have seen 12 years of BJP rule at the Centre and 10 years of Pinarayi Vijayan. They can compare. The old ping-pong politics of Kerala between two fronts with little to no benefit to the people is going to break. Pre-2014, the BJP was typecast as a communal party and made untouchable to over 45% of the state’s population. The narrative was that the BJP was an ‘unwinnable party’, so ‘don’t waste your vote.’ Then our PM said ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ and we were able to consciously chip away at that narrative. Now, for 12 years, we delivered ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’. You cannot call us communal anymore. If there are communal parties today, they are those who do politics closely with Jamaat-e-Islami and SDPI. Our growth phase is over, and now it’s the political phase where we have to win seats and be able to govern.You talked about treating all communities equally. But the NDA doesn’t have a single Muslim candidate this time, despite the state having a 25% Muslim population.This is precisely the problem with measuring a party or person’s view through tokenism. It’s our own track record, and Muslim leaders will tell you that if they stood for elections today, they wouldn’t win. It’s a transition phase. Ten years ago, the same was said about Christians. Today, we have hundreds of Christian leaders and tens of thousands of Christian votes. Similarly, at this stage, we are building trust with the Muslim community. It’s an outreach I started last year. We went to each home and told them we are not against anyone. If we are speaking out against Hamas, Jamaat or SDPI, we are doing it for the state’s good. No liberal Muslim wants Jamaat or SDPI to decide the future of Muslims here. We offered the seats, but our Muslim leadership basically said, ‘There’s no point.’Don’t you think representation still counts, even if chances of victory are low? Representation is an ideal endpoint destination for a party when we earn the trust, which is enough for us to put candidates up there and make them win. I don’t want to put up candidates up there for them to lose and be embarrassed that they are not able to get their own community’s vote. Abdul Salam contested from the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat, and it was not a happy situation. But a point is made if I go to every Muslim home and say we are here for you. We launched a Hajj grievance platform. We will build that trust eventually. It is not in the interest of a Muslim today to become a victim or remain captive of the Congress and the Left. There is no upside for them. You keep a whole community away from the BJP with fear-mongering. Our measure is if you have a problem, we will be there for you. I am unambiguous and unabashedly telling everyone. We launched helpdesks in 30 organisational districts, and over 128,000 people got our direct support. Several of them were Muslims.Church leaders have vehemently opposed the new amendment bill with respect to the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act (FCRA), saying it’s ‘dangerous’. Has the BJP been able to assuage their concerns? The FCRA amendment bill was made into an issue by the Congress. They jumped on it just as they did on the issue concerning the attack on the Chhattisgarh nuns. If you drum up fear, then people will start seeing fear. I spoke to 80% of the Church leaders after the news broke. I explained what it [the bill] is. This is only to prevent money laundering through the FCRA route. The bill is not just for Christians; Hindu, Muslim, and non-religious NGOs all raise money, and no one else said anything. This was a deliberate attempt to sow confusion in the minds of Christians. () I explained everything to Church leaders, and 80% of them were clear. When there were still some clergy who were not 100% convinced, I suggested to the home minister and the Government of India (not to go ahead with the bill). When there is a doubt, let us ensure that it is clarified. We are not going to pass the bill if there is a doubt. Afterwards, we will call them to Delhi and explain it clause by clause.The Congress and Left have hit out at the Modi government for not fulfilling key demands of an AIIMS and a high-speed railway corridor. In contrast, there were many sops announced for Bihar last year. Are the Congress and the CPM political advisors to the BJP? Narendra Modi doesn’t do gimmicks. He doesn’t make announcements to get a few votes. In Bihar, there was a sitting NDA government. They announced expanded social welfare benefits. In Kerala, we don’t have an NDA government. Are Vande Bharat trains or Amrit Bharat stations announced in budgets? Did the Vizhinjam port grant get announced in budget? The Congress governed India for 10 years before 2014. They had eight ministers from Kerala. How many budget announcements were made? We are not in government in Kerala and cannot be held to account on anything. When the people give us a mandate, then you can ask us. You can ask Suresh Gopi as an MP, if there are our MLAs elected in this election, you can ask. If the entire assessment of the CPM, which has been governing here for 10 years, is that the BJP should do things for Kerala, why is he (Pinarayi) a CM? He should resign, saying he can’t do it. AIIMS will come when the NDA government is here. Why? Not because any largesse is being handed out by the Centre, but because the matching funds that the state has to invest. They (LDF) don’t have the resources. When 92.5% of the budget is going to pensions and debt repayment, you can’t do anything. That’s the reality.In a crowded political space like Kerala, will the BJP grow at the expense of the Left or the Congress? This is my prediction: 2026 is going to be the last election with three fronts. The (CPM-Congress) alliance will become formal, and you cannot hide it. What is now hidden and its subterfuge and underground will become obvious. They will have to come into an alliance. They are already together in 27 states and eight Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Here, they will have to do it. It will be an NDA versus the INDIA bloc battle.