“Lotus will not bloom in Kerala" was a famous statement frequently used in the media by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) alike for a long time.

The adage appeared credible for many reasons.

The state’s demography did not seem to support a BJP victory. The NSS and SNDP, two major Hindu community organisations, traditionally supported the UDF and LDF respectively. Catering to their target audience, the media also largely adopted an anti-BJP stance. It was against this backdrop that veteran BJP leader O. Rajagopal won the Nemom Assembly constituency in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016.

Political pundits were quick to dismiss this as a victory based on personal image and relationships rather than as a political breakthrough for the BJP.

Then, in 2024, Suresh Gopi won the parliamentary election from Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala, with a comfortable majority. The lotus had bloomed in Kerala, both in the Assembly and in Parliament, and the fact could no longer be ignored.

In the recent local body elections held in December 2025, the BJP once again demonstrated its growing strength. Although its vote share declined marginally, the party performed well overall and won the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, a stronghold of the LDF for the past four decades.

It is in this political context that Amit Shah has launched the BJP’s ‘Mission 2026’ for the Assembly elections, with the party advancing its vision of ‘Viksit Kerala’. Two days ago, at a meeting organised to celebrate the party’s performance in the local body elections, Amit Shah emphasised two key points. First, he highlighted what he described as communal appeasement allegedly practised by both the UDF and the LDF in Kerala. According to him, both fronts depend on and exploit the vote banks of organisations such as the now-banned Popular Front of India, SDPI, and Jamaat-e-Islami. Second, he referred to the gold theft at Sabarimala, where serious allegations have been raised against leaders of both fronts. Any investigation conducted by a state agency, Shah said, would not be impartial. “It is time for the government to go if it cannot protect the interests of the believer," he added.

Both issues resonate strongly with the electorate of Kerala, at least for now. Consider the issue of appeasement of communal organisations. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who now criticises the UDF for the support it receives from Jamaat-e-Islami and brands the organisation as dangerously communal, was a vocal supporter of the same group a few........

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