Thiruvananthapuram: The state BJP was clueless about its options on the Sabarimala issue till national president Amit Shah intervened, according to R. Balashankar, former editor of 'Organiser,' the RSS mouthpiece. He said in an article in the 'DNA' that Amit Shah guided the party to take an 'openly pro-devotee' stand on the issue.
This view, which has embarrassed the state BJP leadership, has been refuted by a former president of the state BJP who claimed that they had done everything possible to encash on the issue.
Balashankar says that the BJP found its 'Ayodhya moment' in the Sabarimala issue to penetrate the 'mass psyche.'
"The BJP president, by making a number of trips to Kerala and challenging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's pro-atheist, anti -Hindu stand, has consolidated public sentiment in favour of the party. The state BJP leadership was clueless about the options till Amit Shah emerged on the scene, guiding the party to take an openly pro-devotee stand," says Balashankar.
He added that Amit Shah's appeal electrified the cadre prompting them to hit the streets with a vengeance. He feels that Amit Shah has expanded the party's electoral base through a series of strategic advances taken by him across the country, including several states where BJP was not a force five years ago. The BJP has emerged as a 'relevant fighting force' in Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and North-East states like Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, he says.
But a former BJP state president said they were unaware why Balashankar had criticised them. He admitted that Amit Shah was not keen on bringing out an ordinance or legislation on the Sabarimala issue before the Lok Sabha elections.
"If the BJP government had brought out an ordinance or legislation, the issue would have fizzled out. So it was Amit Shah's ploy to encash on the Sabarimala issue in the Lok Sabha elections. The Sabarimala tactics were discussed between the state BJP leadership and Amit Shah and Balashankar's views are wrong," he said.
