Kochi: The arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh has caused a severe headache to the BJP in Kerala, which has been playing all possible cards to woo the Christian community in the state. The arrest and subsequent remand of the two nuns have undone much of what was achieved in terms of bridging the historic divide between the church and the BJP in the state, party insiders fear.

The saffron party had evidently managed to establish strong communication links with the leadership of different church denominations in the past few years as part of the BJP’s Christian outreach strategy in Kerala.

While attracting a considerable number of Christian voters to its side was the BJP’s long-term ambition to make electoral gains in Kerala, the latest incident has played an unexpected spoilsport, leaving the party’s state unit with a lot of explaining to do.

Church leaders and laity organisations have expressed strong protest to the incident, even as BJP’s political rivals Congress and CPM have found it an opportunity to expose what they have been calling the saffron wing’s double standards towards Christians.

While the BJP’s strategy was to play down the previous incidents of attacks on Christians of North India as isolated events involving fringe elements, the arrest of the nuns by the police under a BJP government has left the party with no such option.

The BJP's Kerala unit has already sent a delegation led by state general secretary Anoop Antony to Chhattisgarh in a bid to sort out the issue. The delegation, according to sources, has been tasked with pressurising the authorities to drop the charges against the nuns.

A BJP state leader, on condition of anonymity, told Onmanorama that the incident has already irked several Christian leaders, including those inducted into the party body recently. “Arresting and jailing nuns is something that can touch the believers deeply. It is not at all easy for us to defend the police action. It is indeed a challenging situation for our leaders. Even if they want to step in and sort out the issue, considering the political situation in Kerala, they may not be able to do much, fearing it would irk the RSS leadership,” the state leader said.

He cited the flood of adverse remarks by apparent Sangh supporters towards the social media post made by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the issue. Chadrasekhar, in his post, said that he has urged the Chhattisgarh government to take action against the guilty, even as it saves innocent people.

“Without resolving the crisis, the BJP leadership won’t be able to take another step to reach out to the Christians,” he said.

The arrest and remand of nuns Preethi Merry and Vandana Francis, as well as a third person identified as Sukaman Mandavi, were arrested from Durg railway station on July 25 following a complaint from a local Bajrang Dal functionary, who accused them of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them.

Kerala Ministers P Rajeeve and Roshy Augustine, as well as a delegation led by Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan and UDF MLAs, visited the family of nun Preethi near Nedumbassery on Monday.