Matters of faith loom large in the most literate state

On April 12 evening, the Kozhikode beach turned into a sea of saffron as thousands thronged the beach town in North Kerala to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tear into both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
Modi parachuted into Kerala straight after his campaign rallies in Maharashtra and Karnataka. In an aggressive push, Modi said both the Congress and communists have let down the people of Kerala for decades and urged people to vote for change.
A week earlier, it was the turn of Congress president Rahul Gandhi to rock the South Indian state as he along with his charismatic sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra rode in an open vehicle through the hilly district of Wayanad as hundreds of thousands thronged the streets to greet the Gandhi scions.
For two prime ministerial candidates to cruise through the small state in the southern tip of India says a lot about Kerala's national relevance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The hilltop temple of Sabarimala in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district wears a forlorn look most part of the month when the seasonal rush of pilgrims ebbs.
But its women-averse deity Ayyappa and his propensity to celibate had caused a deep political and social divide across the state between those who stood with traditions and those who batted for progressive liberalism.
As Kerala goes to polls on April 23, faith and its stranglehold on this highly literate yet castiest state will have a definitive impact on the winnability of many candidates.For BJP, Sabarimala is a winning card. But the preemptive directive from the state's election commission that Sabarimala should not be made into a campaigning issue was a damper for the party that is hopeful of making some inroads in the South.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's unflinching resolve to implement the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the hilltop temple (where women of menstrual age is traditionally banned) had drawn ire from the conservative Hindus. And it gave gravitas to the Sangh Parivar as it carved out a political space for itself in a state that has alternatively voted Congress and Communist governments to power.
It is generally assumed that the aggressive campaign by the BJP's foot soldiers of faith against the temple entry of women has been successful in solidifying the upper caste Hindu vote bank.
In the temple town Pathanamthitta, the party has fielded K. Surendran, who was jailed during the Sabarimala protest, as its candidate. There is no doubt the BJP leadership is counting on devotees to vote for the party that fought to protect their faith.
But the Congress too has its eyes set on 'faith' votes. The party that opposed the temple entry lays equal or even better claim as the protector of Hindu faith.
Sitting Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram against Kummanam Rajashekaran, often reminds the voters in his constituency that it is his party and not the BJP that took constructive measures to protect the faith of the Ayyappa devotees.
"If BJP really cared about the devotees, they are ruling at the centre and they could have brought a law to uphold the traditions of the temple," says Tharoor.
With the upper caste Nairs - a community that wields considerable political clout in the state - expected to throw their weight behind the Congress-led UDF, the party is on a stronger ground in constituencies where the BJP will put up a strong fight.
The Congress' plan to consolidate its gains in the south is mirrored in its decision to field its party president Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in the north of Kerala.
Electoral gains in Kerala is crucial as the Congress is keen to win as many seats as possible from the South. A recent exit poll suggested that a Congress sweep in Kerala is imminent giving Congress 20 out of 20 MPs.
For CPI-M, the Lok Sabha elections is a fight for political relevance as the party's chances in other strongholds like Tripura and West Bengal remain grim. For Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, this elections is a litmus test for his leadership and a validation for his progressive pro-renaissance stand on the temple issue.
Vijayan has often tried to paint Congress and BJP as the two sides of the same Hindutva coin, but his argument has lost sheen with the entry of Rahul Gandhi into the fray. It is assumed that Congress will chip into the Muslim minority and the Ezhava votes of the Left front leaving it in a much weaker position in many constituencies.
Adding to the Left's woes is its fallout with influential Christian communities of the Central Kerala districts over a clash for property between two factions of the Syrian church.
Naturally, the Left camp does not see Rahul Gandhi's candidature from Wayanad as a mature political decision, especially as the former is part of the Mahagatbandhan or the grand alliance at the centre.
"If the Congress is serious about fighting BJP, Rahul Gandhi should have chosen a seat where the fight is with the BJP," Vijayan had said.
Women have been at the centerstage of the political turmoil in the state recently that saw huge protest marches in the name of faith. Thousands of women took to the streets to oppose and support the women's entry into Sabarimala in the BJP-organised Namajapa yatra and in the LDF government's Vanitha Mathil in support of the renaissance values.
In a state that boasts of the highest female to male ratio in India (there are 1084 females per 1000 females), the way women vote in this election can turn the tide.
anjana@khaleejtimes.com