Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Senior BJP leaders visited homes of various prominent Bishops in Kerala on Sunday, on the occasion of Easter, in what is being seen as a bid to forge close ties with the Christian community in the State as part of its political strategy to woo minority communities ahead of the 2024 general elections.

The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the opposition Congress both termed the BJP visits to Bishops’ homes as a “mockery” and said it indicated the saffron party’s “double standards”.

While Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan visited Archbishop of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Trivandrum Thomas J Netto, BJP national executive committee member P K Krishna Das met with Thalassery Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany in Kannur district of the State.

“A fruitful interaction on the auspicious occasion of #EasterSunday. Met Archbishop of Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum – His Grace Most Rev.Dr.Thomas J Netto & conveyed warm greetings & best wishes,” Muraleedharan tweeted about his visit.

However, both BJP leaders downplayed any political motives behind their visits and said it was just a friendly meeting on the festive occasion.

“It was just a friendly visit on the occasion of Easter,” Muraleedharan said after meeting Bishop Netto.

Krishna Das, after his visit with Pamplany in Kannur, told reporters that he went there only to convey his wishes.

“There were only friendly discussions, not political,” he said and added that the visit was in accordance with the party’s national executive’s decision and was being followed across the country. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited cathedrals in Delhi,” Krishna Das noted.

BJP leader A P Abdullakutty claimed that the visits were part of the party’s national level campaign — ‘Sneha Yatra’ — to make space in the hearts and minds of the minority communities.

“It is not a yatra for votes. It is to get close to them, into their hearts and minds. It is also meant to indicate that this party is not against minority communities,” he said.

The visits also assume importance in the wake of veteran Congress leader A K Antony’s son Anil joining the saffron party and Pamplany’s statement last month that if the Centre promised to increase the price of rubber procurement to Rs 300 per kilogram, BJP’s dearth of an MP from Kerala would be addressed.

Besides that, after BJP’s poll performance in three minority dominated northeastern states recently, Modi had said that his party’s alliance would form a government in Kerala considering the increasing support of minorities for it.

On the other hand, the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala said that the attempts by RSS, which had declared minority communities as a threat to the nation, to forge close ties with them was a “mockery”.

The state secretariat of the Left party in a statement, said that the “philosophical book of the RSS states that Christians, other minorities and Communists were a threat to the nation”.

“There were a lot of attacks across the country against Christian establishments and places of worship during last Christmas. It is in this backdrop that the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders are visiting churches and priests,” CPI(M) said in its statement.

It also alleged that threats and bribes were being used against the Christian community, as in the case of opposition leaders, to bring them into the fold of BJP.

Taking a similar stand, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly V D Satheesan said that BJP leaders of Kerala visiting homes of Bishops on Easter was with the intention of hiding their party’s anti-Christian attitude and the atrocities committed against the minority community.

Satheesan alleged that a BJP state minister from Karnataka recently made adverse comments against the Christians and a similar attitude was being shown by the saffron party against the community in other parts of the country.

He also alleged that in the last four years, around 600 churches in various parts of the country were attacked and even Christmas worship was disrupted.

On Saturday, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran took a dig at the the state BJP’s plan to reach out to Christian families on the day of Easter by comparing it with ‘Dhritrashtra Alingana’ – the deadly hug of Kuru king Dhritarashtra in the epic Mahabharata.