It seems the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party are keen on tapping into the common grounds that both Kerala and Mizoram shared. On Friday, BJP Kerala unit president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was appointed the governor of Mizoram, a post held by party's former state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan till a few months ago.
Currently, Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, holds the additional charge of Mizoram. He was given the charge after Rajasekharan, who held the post from May 29, 2018 to March 8, 2019, resigned to contest in the Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram.
BJP pitted Rajasekharan, one of its tallest leaders in the state, against Congress's Shashi Tharoor as the party wanted to cash in on the Sabarimala sentiments. But the saffron party came only second in the constituency.
Pillai is the third Keralite to be appointed Mizoram Governor after Vakkom Purushothaman (2011-2014) and Rajasekharan.
The announcement of Pillai's new appointment comes a day after the BJP drew a blank in the bypolls held in five assembly constituencies in Kerala. Despite leading from the front the protests and agitations over Sabarimala issue, the saffron party failed to create any magic in the polls, much like the Parliament elections held six months ago.
The saffron party had vigorously campaigned against the state government's decision to implement the Supreme Court order striking down a centuries-old tradition that bans women aged between 10 and 50 from entering the hill shrine.
Pillai, who was leading the BJP at the time of the Sabarimala agitation, however, said during his term vote share and party membership increased. "The first challenge I faced as state president was the Sabarimala issue. Later we got nearly 70 per cent increase in vote share in certain elections. Similar increase was there in the party membership too. I am happy that I was able to perform the duties assigned to me," he told PTI in an interview.
The lawyer-turned politician had also faced flak during the agitation over his controversial statement that Sabarimala was a “golden opportunity” for the BJP.
Pillai was serving his second term as the state president of the party and was to demit office in another two months. He is currently an executive council member of the BJP. He last contested the Chengannur assembly bypoll last year in June but finished third behind the two traditional rival political fronts—the LDF and the UDF. There were reports that Pillai wanted to contest from Pathanamthitta, where Sabarimala temple situates, during the Lok Sabha polls, but the party fielded K. Surendran.
Hailing from Venmani in Alappuzha district, Pillai started his political career as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the mid seventies. Often known as a 'moderate' in the Kerala unit of the BJP, he is an author and columnist and has penned several books. He is also the founder of BJP's unit in Muslim-dominated Lakshadweep.
Earlier, the appointment of Rajasekharan as governor had sparked off a barrage of protests in the northeastern state with a few Christian organisations alleging that by bringing a person with RSS background to the top post, the BJP was trying to spoil the communal harmony in the state. It remains to be seen whether Pillai will have to face similar protests from the state.
