BJP plays on 'Kerala Story' theme to woo Karnataka voters

NEW DELHI: With the "Kerala Story" theme of "forced conversions" of women in the coastal state seen by the BJP as having the potential to polarise voters in a large number of constituencies in Karnataka, the party has circulated similar views expressed by the leaders from different political ideologies including two former chief ministers V S Achuthanandan (CPM) and Oommen Chandy (Congress).

"Their plan is to make Kerala a Muslim state in the next 20 years. For that, they are luring youngsters. Offering them money. Insisting they marry Hindu girls to increase the Muslim population. This is how they are growing their majority. And these tricks are working!" V S Achuthanandan, who was the Kerala chief minister from 2006-11, is heard saying in a video of a press conference held in the national capital on July 24, 2010.

The video was circulated by BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya on Wednesday, who said that Achuthanandan was a hardcore Communist, not someone who can be accused of parroting the saffron worldview.

"Not just him, even Congress CM Oommen Chandy, who was Kerala CM between 2004-2006 and then again from 2011-2016, is on record on the floor of Kerala Assembly admitting to more than 7,000 conversions to Islam between 2006-12," Malviya further said.

Netizens also dug out an old tweet of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in which he talks about a few women complaining to him about their daughters being stuck in Afghanistan after being taken there by their "misguided" husbands.

On Tuesday, Tharoor, who has raised objections to "The Kerala Story" content, tweeted, saying, "Many are spreading this 2021 tweet of mine as if it undermines my present objections to the trailer and publicity for "The Kerala Story".

The Congress MP further said, "Yes, I was approached then by three Kerala mothers and was aware of a fourth, and I was open about my concerns about their daughters' radicalisation. But four cases are a far cry from the 32,000 that the filmmakers are alleging."

Tharoor further said, "The Kerala Story" filmmakers have tweaked the movie's description on YouTube and changed '32,000 women' to '3 women'.