Can Ram Lalla open the door to the South for BJP?

Of all the pushes that the BJP has made to fulfil its ‘Mission South’ till now, the masterstroke was that the idol of Ram Lalla for Ayodhya’s Ram temple was made by an artiste from the South. by R Dyes The Lok Sabha polls are just a few months away and the BJP which till now has not had much success in its ‘Mission South’ is yet again looking to make inroads into South India. If the saffron party’s focus in the 2019 LokSabha elections was making its presence felt in the eastern states, in this year’s General Elections, its focus will be on getting a firm footing in the southern states, where despite many efforts in the last eight years the party has made limited gains. The five southern states of Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together account for 129 LokSabha seats, hence they play a major role in government formation at the Centre. Despite the fact that the party swept North India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and West India in the 2019 General Elections, the BJP is not sitting on its laurels and is keen to conquer the East and the South to fulfil its national ambitions. Also, as the party is seeking a third term at the Centre it is bound to be worried about the anti-incumbency factor because not every vote is riding on the Hindutva wave. So, just as insurance it wants to establish itself in the states that have eluded it till now so that there is no threat to its national ambitions at all and it can fulfil its ambition of ‘Akhand Bharat’ in the long run. However, the BJP has not been able to make an impact in the South as yet in the last nine-and-a-half years. It won and then lost the gateway to the South, the state of Karnataka. But it has not been for the lack of trying. The NarendraModi-led Government at the Centre has been wooing the South Indian people with its infrastructure push with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister making frequent visits and big-ticket announcements for development projects there, including the launch of Vande Bharat trains. They have also been playing the inclusivity card for the last few years by increasing the representation of influential figures from the South in key bodies and by giving them important positions.