Waiting for upgrade

Despite upsetting the four-decade-old power equilibrium in Kerala, the BJP remains a distant third in the state’s political landscape

- CITHARA PAUL

THE 1980S HAD been a turning point in Kerala history. It was the decade in which Mammootty and Mohanlal established themselves as the undisputed superstars of the Malayalam film industry. The decade also saw Kerala’s predominant political formations—the Congress-led United Democratic front (UDF) and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF)—becoming entrenched in the state’s political landscape. The people of Kerala loved this duopoly—in politics and in cinema. Well, at least, till recently.

The Malayalam film industry is undergoing a huge churn. A new generation of filmmakers and actors are changing the very lingo and grammar of the industry. Something similar is happening to the UDFLDF binary, too. The duo had been the only players in Kerala politics, capturing power alternately in every election held since 1980. The BJP has been trying to break their dominance and establish itself as a major player, backed by its undisputed hold over power in Delhi. The saffron party’s presence is gradually changing the way politics is being played out in the state.

The BJP has just one seat in the Kerala legislative assembly, but it has broken the political equilibrium the state maintained for the last 40 years. The party enjoys an oversized presence in the media, which has forced the opposition Congress to repeatedly insist that it is the primary challenger of the ruling LDF.

“The fight is between the LDF and the BJP. The UDF is a distant third,” BJP state president K. Surendran told THE WEEK. “Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala only repeats what I say in news conferences. The 2021 assembly elections will seal the fate of the decades-long UDF versus LDF pattern.”