PM Modi And BJP's Christian Outreach Isn't New; It All Began in Kerala

Donning a white sweater with a saffron shawl, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the leaders and members of the Christian community in his official residence in Delhi on Monday. Mentioning his meeting with the Pope, and his “old and close ties” with the community since his days as the chief minister in Gujarat, the PM invoked the Bible, and said, “Jesus worked to create an inclusive society where justice prevails for all and it is these values that are illuminating the way like a guiding light in the development journey of India. In The Holy Bible, truth has been given great importance and service as the supreme religion.”

Even though this is the first time when PM Modi hosted the community leaders and members in his official residence, the outreach has been happening over the past nine months. The exercise took a prominent shape when PM Modi attended an event and met a delegation of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and another delegation of eight Bishops in Kerala in April.

‘Sneha Yatra’

Speaking with News18, K Surendran, BJP’s state unit president in Kerala, said that the party has taken up a programme to make an outreach to the Christian community. The programme, named “Sneha Yatra”, is meant to build a socio-cultural bond with the community that constitutes 17% of Kerala’s population.

“We have taken up this programme for 10 days, from December 21 to December 31. Over the last five days, we have already reached out to around 5 lakh households and covered around 2,000 churches across Kerala. We plan to reach out to at least 7 to 9 lakh households. This is a sampark yatra (outreach programme) meant for Christian community brothers and sisters,” Surendran told News18.

Christians are ‘culturally aligned’

According to senior leaders of the BJP, the Christian outreach has been planned “systematically” to bring in an “inclusive political approach” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“There are some powerful and foreign-funded lobbies that always want to pit Muslims and Christians against the PM and the party. We have to break such a stereotypical approach towards the BJP by other opposition forces. There is no qualm about the BJP accepting its Hindu cultural roots, but this is the time when we should actively work to shrug off the communal tag. PM Modi has taken the lead to address this issue,” said a senior BJP leader, who has been a part of the outreach programme in Kerala and towards the Christian community.

Christianity in Europe and Christianity in India, especially in the southern part of India, are very different from each other, he added. “Christianity in Kerala, particularly, is unique. They share the same heritage and cultural values as us. Indian Christians are culturally aligned with us. Making an outreach will make our party’s approach to inclusivity stronger,” he said.

Apart from PM Modi, BJP’s national president JP Nadda was also seen reaching out to the community. On December 25, Nadda visited the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi. After meeting the senior priests there, Nadda also spoke about Jesus Christ’s contribution towards peace and harmony. PM Modi had also visited the cathedral on Easter.