Why Modi fans secretly love Pinarayi Vijayan

Even some NaMo fans have started drawing parallels between the PM and the southern CM. There's some logic to it. 

 

The most obvious resemblance is in the way the two leaders carry themselves. They are self-assured, and so towering is their stature within their respective parties that they are often criticised as arrogant. 

 

Just as PM Modi, CM Vijayan is a self-made politician. Both have had to face a hostile media and unrelenting adversaries. 

Both come from humble backgrounds. Modi is the son of a chaiwala and Vijayan a toddy tapper.

 

Just as Modi managed to sidestep 'tallest' BJP leader Advani for the top job, the Communist leader needed to fast track nonagenarian Achuthanandan's superannuation. And he accomplished that using to full effect his clout in the party. Having done that, Vijayan paid a surprise visit to Achuthanandan, a carefully orchestrated-for-media move, to “seek his advice” before assuming office.

 

But beyond all these, Modi admirers are finding a symbolic similarity in the way Vijayan is trying to change his image after becoming the chief minister. 

 

After designated as the CM, the stern disciplinarian made a few symbolic gestures that helped him to project himself as a man of consensus and reconciliation. Apart from calling on Achuthanandan (photo below) at his residence, he went to Alappuzha and cut his birthday cake with former Communist firebrand K R Gouriamma of Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS), who had been sulking after her party was denied seats by the LDF. 

Vijayan is also sporting a broader smile nowadays, a marked departure from his somewhat grumpy public demeanour.

 

A perfectly-timed media branding is also on for the CPM leader. On the day of his swearing in, the party's Kerala wing put out full-page ads in national newspapers featuring a beaming Vijayan against the backdrop of unmistakeable Marxist red.  

 

"I won't say he is imitating Modi. But the resemblances are many," wrote Kavalam Sasikumar, the deputy editor of Janmabhumi, the Malayalam mouthpiece of the BJP. "See, the CPM's election slogan was a parody of the BJP's successful campaign Achhe Din." 

 

As Modi famously promised after becoming the PM, Vijayan too has gone out of the way to emphasise that this will be a government of all.

Team Pinarayi has carefully perused the Modi marketing playbook. The CPM erected huge hoardings across the state after its thumping victory thanking the people of Kerala for recapturing the ‘strength’ of Kerala (photo above). Vijayan’s larger than life image dominated the post-poll campaign. 

 

Besides all the apparent similarities between the PM and the new Kerala CM, what Modi fans calculate is that  Vijayan makes for an ideal villain for the BJP to target in Kerala. 

 

Unlike, Achuthanandan, immensely popular and accepted across the political spectrum, Vijayan has an image of a rough dominating leader, who is often criticized (and praised) for being a 'Stalinist'. Some of his political adversaries, including some within his own party call him a fascist. Moreover, Vijayan belongs to the politically turbulent Kannur where his party is in a constant and bloody feud with the BJP and the RSS, and occasionally with the Muslim League and the Congress.  

 

The BJP hopes to build on this image of Vijayan so that it can conclusively blame the chief minister for all the political violence that involves CPM workers. Interestingly, the saffron party has kicked up a national campaign against the CPM and the Vijayan government much before it assumed office by highlighting the killing of a BJP worker in central Kerala and a series of violence in Kannur post-election.

BJP state chief Kummanam Rajashekharan (photo above) has already warned against what he called the ‘fascist’ tendencies of Vijayan and the CPM.

 

As far as the BJP is concerned, ‘fascist’, a term used by political enemies of Modi and their party, fits well with Vijayan. In that sense, Vijayan’s ascent as the chief minister of Kerala is a blessing in disguise for the BJP and its plans to position itself as the main opposition in Kerala in the days ahead.

 

And this must be the real reason for the Modi fans’ secret love of the Communist chief minister of Kerala.