Demonstration involving black flag agitation against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Kollam has quickly developed from what was originally a security issue into a much broader political conflict for Kerala. While youth Congress activists attempted to block the minister’s vehicle with black flags, the police claimed to have stopped them from obstructing the minister’s convoy and thus did not interrupt his movements. Meanwhile, the BJP has reacted to the incident as a security blunder and is seeking an explanation of how protesters managed to approach a Union minister.
This was quite a legitimate demand since the security arrangement for a Home Minister has to stand the test of scrutiny. However, the conflict did not end with the demand for an investigation. BJP and Yuva Morcha members later organized black-flag protests against Congress members such as Priyanka Gandhi and Ramesh Chennithala, who was the Home Minister of Kerala at the time. This situation then got worse when BJP members organized protests against the convoy of Chief Minister V D Satheesan in Kannur.
This raises an obvious challenge to the BJP itself: if trying to reach Amit Shah’s entourage is a security breach, what does that make the actions of BJP supporters trying to block or otherwise confront the entourages of elected leaders of Kerala? A security policy cannot be based on whose car happens to be driving by.
The story also draws attention to the increasing trend of political parties responding to street protests with street protests. The BJP has complained that Kerala’s leaders have been negligent, but such claims should be investigated for their merits. However, the threat of retaliatory demonstrations by other leaders’ entourages risks transforming the dispute from a matter of security to politics.
The issue holds another responsibility for Amit Shah, who serves as the Home Minister of India. The general question for the Modi government is whether the Centre will insist on the same security measures for the state governments led by political opponents as it does for the Union ministers. The other question to be answered through an investigation is whether it was clear what went wrong in Kollam. If convoy obstruction is threatening in the case of Amit Shah, why should it not be in the case of the politicians from Kerala?
