After 'sneha yatra' on Easter, BJP leaders host breakfast for Christian priests on Vishu

Thiruvananthapuram | After organising 'sneha yatra' to Christian homes on Easter day, the BJP leaders in Kerala continued to woo the prominent minority community with its leaders hosting breakfast for its members on the occasion of Vishu celebration on Saturday.

Former union minister and the party's Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar took part in the breakfast meeting organised at party's district president V V Rajesh's house here.

He received two invited priests of a prominent Christian denomination by draping a shawl and served them breakfast.

Similar breakfast programmes were arranged in other districts also under the aegis of local leadership of the saffron party, sources said.

The move was seen as a further attempt by the saffron party to forge close ties with the Christian community as part of efforts to woo them ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Javadekar later said that India is land of diversity and the country's ethos is live and let live. "On the earth, this is one of the few countries where all people and all religions live together and festivals are celebrated by all. So, today is Vishu and we all are here," he told reporters.

Stating that the BJP leaders and activists had visited several houses extending wishes on Easter, he said they called all Christian and Muslim friends and neighbours to the house of the party functionaries on the day of Vishu. "So, this is real India and this is what we nurture...this is BJP's ethos," Javadekar said and rejected the political opponents' charge that it was part of their vote-bank politics eying the impending Lok Sabha polls.

Javadekar in a tweet said the BJP is conveying PM Modi's message that "we are all citizens of India regardless of religion or caste." The BJP state leadership had already announced that they would visit the residences of Muslim community members also in the state to exchange greetings on the occasion of Eid next week.

The BJP's massive minority outreach programme is in line with Modi's announcement last month that the party would capture power in the southern state.

Both the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress in Kerala had criticised the BJP's bid to woo the Chrisitan community and alleged that it indicated the saffron party's "double standards."