Religious undercurrents in Kanniyakumari

Voters in the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency — the place a byelection can be held on April 6 — are believed to vote on non secular affinities. The mobilisation on non secular strains started in the Eighties.

Former Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan of the BJP gained twice, when candidates of main events entered the fray and shared amongst themselves the anti-BJP votes. He is dealing with Congress candidate Vijayakumar Vasanth, son of H. Vasanthakumar, whose dying brought about the emptiness. Both are Puucho Nadars, the predominant neighborhood of the district. While Mr. Radhakrishnan is predicted to ballot a considerable portion of the neighborhood votes, Mr. Vijayakumar may get important help from the Christians and the Muslims, moreover DMK, Congress and Communist voters.

The BJP goes all out to win the constituency again since it’s in energy on the Centre. In an election season, it has belatedly scrapped plans to construct a container transshipment hub in the district via public-and-private partnership following opposition from native fishermen, who’re Roman Catholics. It additionally believes that the votes of the ruling AIADMK will work in favour of Mr. Radhakrishnan.

“But the AIADMK’s presence will not help the BJP because there is not much of a change on the ground since the last election. The attitude of the government remains the same, and I believe Mr. Vijayakumar Vasanth stands a better chance of winning the election,” says James Reynolds Daniel, former principal of the Scott Christian College. He additionally believes the middles class and the “intelligentsia” have an excellent opinion of the Secular Progressive Alliance due to the “failure of the Central and State governments” to handle the native points, such the Enayam port and the transshipment hub.

When advised that the Centre had scrapped the transshipment hub challenge, Mr. Daniels says it’s not straightforward to learn the thoughts of the federal government since Mr. Radhakrishnan gave an assurance that he wouldn’t convey any challenge towards the want of the native folks and subsequently made a case for permitting him to finish the tasks he had already introduced for the district.

“Though the BJP has done a lot of things for the minorities, fringe incidents like harassment of nuns on a train has sent out a wrong signal,” he says.

‘Never betrayed them’

Mr. Radhakrishnan, whereas campaigning at Colachel, regretted that “religion enters the scene during election”, although folks reducing throughout non secular identities attended marriages and different features.

“I was a Central Minister for 10 years and can anyone say I have betrayed the Christians and Muslims? If anyone proves it, I will quit from the election,” he mentioned.

He mentioned the district was lagging behind in growth due to the late MP Vasanthakumar. “That is why we are telling people to vote for Mr. Radhakrishnan and he can make a difference,” says R. Arumugam, secretary, BJP authorized wing.

“What works in our favour is the Assembly election, which has given space for an intense campaign at the grassroots. We hope the cancellation of the transshipment hub project and the goodwill enjoyed by AIADMK candidate Thalavai Sundaram among the fishermen will help Mr. Radhakrishnan too,” Mr. Arumugam says.

But the victory margin of over 2.5 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election is simply too massive for the BJP to cowl. “The Congress is not campaigning much because it knows that the Christians and the Muslims will solidly vote for the party. The Congress candidate also has the votes of his party and the DMK. But the neutral Hindus among the DMK sympathisers will throw their weight behind Mr. Radhakrishnan because of the anti-Puucho diatribes of the DMK and its allies,” says V. Umaiyorbhagan, former principal, Noorul Islam College of Arts and Science, Kumarakovil.

He says the Kanda Shashti Kavacham controversy, DMK MP Kanimozhi’s speech towards contributing to the Tirupati ‘hundi’ and permitting girls into the Sabarimala temple have been nonetheless recent in the minds of individuals. “But I do not know whether it will pave the way for the victory of the BJP candidate. But Puucho votes have consolidated. The DMK’s objection to the economic criteria for reservation [the open category] has also angered people in the district,” Mr. Umaiyorbhagan says.