In an obvious attempt at overkill, the BJP has gone overboard with its reactions. The extreme frustration of the BJP over the LDF’s super show and its own below-par-performance in Kerala saw Union Minister, Ravi Sankar Prasad intimidating the LDF with an unabashed threat to meet it on the streets and in Parliament. This was nothing but an ugly display of fascist tendencies at its worst. “The LDF must know that the BJP is ruling not only at the Centre but also in 14 States,” thundered Mr. Prasad in a belligerent statement unbecoming of a Union Minister. Mr. Prasad must realize that the LDF in Kerala won’t be scared into silence by such open threats as it has a glorious tradition of fighting the BJP-RSS combine’s intimidatory tactics.

The crux of Prasad’s argument was that, emboldened by the victory, the CPI(M) had unleashed an ‘orgy of violence’ against BJP-RSS workers in Kerala. The Union Minister must know that the boot is actually on the other leg.

State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and other state CPI(M) leaders lost no time in calling the BJP bluff. It was the BJP which started the violence, Mr Balakrishnan said, adding that the BJP workers killed a CPI(M) worker in Dharmadom, the constituency which elected Pinarayi Vijayan. Not only that. They also attacked CPI MLA E Chandrashekharan, who won the election from Kanhangad. As if all this was not enough, they demolished CPI(M)’s offices in Nemom, from where BJP candidate O. Rajagopal won, opening the party’s account in Kerala. Tne Union Minister must, Kodiyeri said, refrain from stooping to the level of an RSS pracharak and not vitiate the law and order situation in the State.

Not surprisingly, the BJP’s sinister attempt at intimidation against a Government which has not even been sworn in has drawn all-round flak. Not unexpectedly, the demonstration which the BJP held outside the CPI(M)’s office in Delhi in protest against the so-called CPI(M) violence itself turned violent!. The BJP must stop indulging in politics of intimidation as such negative tactics would only backfire on the party. They should have learnt lessons from the loss of face the party suffered in the JNU imbroglio and the Uttarakhand fiasco.

Instead of indulging in violence, the BJP should have taken a leaf out of the book of its newly-elected Kerala MLA, O. Rajagopal. In a heart-warming gesture of courtesy, Rajagopal sprang a pleasant surprise on chief minister designate, Pinarayi Vijayan by personally calling on him to wish him well. There were areas of disagreement between the CPI(M) and the BJP, admitted Rajagopal. But there are also areas where the two can cooperate, keeping the interests of Kerala in mind, he added. It was a gesture which went down well with the people of the State, and in glaring contrast with the dangerously petulant behaviour of some central BJP and other State B JP leaders.

The BJP ’s tactics also militate against the spirit of cooperative federalism, by which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders swear by day in and day out. The Prime Minister must immediately intervene and rein the BJP hotheads both at the Centre and in the State. Will he? (IPA Service)