A BJP spokesperson claimed that members of the Christian community had been subjected to “brutal cyberattacks” since joining the saffron party.
“We will protect them at all costs. We will fight tooth and nail against those who act against them. There will be strong retaliation,” BJP president K Surendran told reporters.
The BJP leader said the Congress and the BJP viewed the minority community’s joining the party with utmost intolerance.
Members of minority communities, including priests who joined the BJP, were threatened, Surendran said.
He said people who attempted to humiliate and attack them personally, through various means, would face serious consequences.
Around 50 Christian families, including Father Shaiju Kurien, secretary of the Nilakkal Bhadrasanam Orthodox Church in south Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, joined the BJP on Saturday in the presence of Union Minister V Muraleedharan.
In a Facebook post, the saffron party said many people from the Kerala Congress (Jacob) faction also joined the party in the presence of state president Surendran in central’s Thrissur district of Kerala, Saturday.
The party attributed the call of minorities to join its ranks to the visionary approach to development under the leadership of the Narendra Modi-led government.
“Over the last decade, the Modi government has demonstrated strong commitment to development. This is an important factor motivating minorities to support and join the BJP,” the party said.
The BJP also said it would dispel the notion that false propaganda could alienate minorities from the party.
The development comes soon after the saffron party resumed its ‘Sneha Yatra’, an outreach program aimed at establishing ties with the Christian community in the state.
“BJP can clear misconceptions among minority groups through programs like Sneha Yatra. It is certain that more people will join BJP in the coming days to participate in development politics,” the party said.
In response to this development, the Congress claimed that “the Sangh Parivar is a movement that targets Christians across India.”
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan alleged that the BJP in Kerala is like “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, infiltrating Christian homes”.
Christians in Kerala have the wisdom to recognize their true intentions, he told reporters in Kochi.
The Congress maintains a secular stance, a consistent stance even in Karnataka, Satheesan added.
Resuming the Sneha Yatra last week, the state BJP chief visited senior priests of various churches in the state, including Cardinal George Alencherry, former head of the prominent Syro-Malabar church, and the Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparbil of the Latin Archdiocese of Verapoly, to convey the Prime Minister’s Christmas greetings.
Although many senior bishops of various faiths have made pro-BJP statements on several occasions in the state in recent times, the alleged silence of the party-led Union government on the issue of violence in Manipur has created differences between them.
The state Congress party has sharply criticized the BJP’s initiative to reach out to the Christian community, saying it is not a ‘Sneha Yatra’, the journey of love, but rather a “Judas kiss”.
