Chennai: In a clear message that it plans to expand its footprint in Kerala, the BJP has inducted minority leader and state general secretary George Kurian in the Modi 3.0 council of ministers, apart from Suresh Gopi, who won the party its first Lok Sabha seat in the state.
Both Kurian and Gopi were sworn in as ministers of state Sunday.
Kurian, who had unsuccessfully contested from the Puthuppally constituency in the 2016 assembly elections, is also the former vice-chairman of the minority commission.
In 2016, Kurian finished third with 12 percent votes after former chief minister late Oommen Chandy, who won with 53.7 percent, and CPI(M)’s Jaick C Thomas (33.4 percent).
From Kottayam, Kurian has been with the BJP since the 1980s when he was a teenager. A member of the BJP’s national executive committee, Kurian has also held multiple responsibilities in the party’s youth wing, the Yuva Morcha.
In 2017, he became the first Keralite to be appointed as the vice-chairman of the National Minority Commission.
Kurian’s surprise induction has also communicated to the Christian community the BJP’s gratitude since they helped the party win in Thrissur. The BJP, which had been trying to make inroads into the left-ruled state, had begun to curry favour with the community much before the general elections. Modi met eight top leaders of Kerala churches, including the head of the Syro-Malabar church in April 2023.
According to the 2011 Census, 18.4 percent of the total population of Kerala are Christians.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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