Right & Left: BJP goes all-out to promote Kerala as 'Modi's Own Country'

POLITICIANS disapprove of surprises. Upending Kerala's binary bliss is a charismatic ideological interloper who is queering the pitch with a saffron surprise.

- RAVI SHANKAR

The voting formula remains unchanged, however: netting male and female votes with the former calling the shots. Now women voters have given the communists and the Congress something to worry about. This time, across castes, classes and communities, the majority of them will be voting with a mind of their own.

The BJP attributes this change to Modi's stature as a pro-woman prime minister who has launched myriad schemes for them. There is also campaign chemistry. Modi's road show through Palghat was massive; women were in overwhelming presence in the crowds. "It was mass hysteria,"recalls Krishnakumar, the BJP candidate from Palakkad.

"Women broke into tears upon seeing the prime minister like they do in temples." Even a large number of Muslim women favour the PM.

Many of them are openly campaigning for BJP, even wearing hijabs; in Thrissur they hardsell Suresh Gopi as the PM's personal nominee.

But doesn't BJP have a communal reputation? "Not in Kerala," denies a young girl campaigner whose thattam (short head cover) causally covers her unruly hair. "Here, he is for us, the women." Many Muslim women, especially young, don't wear hijab.