Union Home Minister Amit Shah put up a brave face in front of BJP workers in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Though he encouraged his partymen to dream saying how ecstatic it would be to have a BJP Chief Minister for Kerala, the halfway target he had set last year to achieve this glory has been missed by a considerable margin.

Last time he visited, on July 12, 2025, Shah said that the BJP will form the government in Kerala in 2026. But the union minister's ambition was then moderated by a sensible precondition. "The path to the Secretariat will pass through the 2025 local body polls," Shah had said.

What is the force the BJP's Kerala unit should generate during the 2025 local body poll stretch to give it the momentum to reach the top in 2026? In July 2025, Shah figured it should be 25 per cent of the total votes polled. And what did the BJP finally end up with? 14.80 per cent. A BJP mayor for Thiruvananthapuram was the only substantial gain.

Being the consummate politician, Shah made the most of it. "I had said I would pay obeisance to Sree Padmanabha if Thiruvananthapuram gets a BJP mayor. I am coming here straight after visiting the Lord," Shah said, while addressing an enthusiastic gathering of newly-elected BJP and NDA members and councillors at a convention centre at Kowdiar in Thiruvananthapuram.

Shah said a mayor was not the only post the BJP was after in Kerala. "We have a long journey ahead, and it will reach its culmination only after we have a BJP Chief Minister," Shah said. And like last time, he used favourable numbers -- BJP's Lok Sabha voting percentage -- to instill hope in partymen. 

"In 2014, we had 11 per cent. In 2019, it was 16 per cent. In 2024, it rose to 20 per cent," Shah said. Since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the BJP had a notably higher vote share in Parliament elections, a minor swell that is largely absent in intrastate polls. In the 2021 Assembly polls, for instance, the NDA's vote share had plummeted by nearly three per cent to 12.41 per cent. 

Even if standing on the stiletto-heel of the Lok Sabha numbers, the leap Shah projected for the BJP in 2026 sounded improbable. "Now, we will go from 20 to 30 and from there to 40, and all of this in 2026 itself," he told partymen on Sunday. 

If anyone thought this was impossible, Shah had miracles to share. "In 1984, the BJP had only two members in the Lok Sabha. Now, Narendra Modi has come to power for the third consecutive time," he said. "In Assam, we once had just two Assembly seats. Today, we have been in power for two terms consecutively is about to take power for a third time. We now rule Uttar Pradesh where once we had just 25 seats," he said. 

Then came the slogan-like one-liner that sent the BJP workers into a tizzy. "Ab baari Kerala ki hai." (This time, it is Kerala's turn) Shah said the BJP's bid for power in 2026 will be propelled by three slogans. Development ("Kerala is fully dependent on money orders from non-resident Keralites. Only Modi can deliver true development for Kerala"). Security ("The LDF and UDF will not touch Popular Front of India, Jamaat-e-Islami and SDPI. Only Modi can free Kerala of anti-nationals"). Protection of Faith ("If the LDF and UDF had failed to protect the Lord's possessions how can they be expected to protect our faith") 

He said the Left and the Congress were no more credible choices. "Communism has vanished from the face of the world and the Congress from India," Shah said. In Shah's speech, there was dog whistle comments intended to stoke the passions of the Hindu community. "We tried to root out corruption in the management of Wakf properties but the UDF and the LDF have jointly opposed us," Shah said. He hurled a rhetorical poser at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan: "Pinarayi Vijayan-ji, what steps have you taken to retrieve from the Wakf Board 600 acres belonging to Christian families and 400 acres belonging to Hindus?"

There was more. "We ended triple talaq but again both challenged us. Don't Muslim women have a right to peaceful life," he said. "If you had accepted appeasement as a policy, you cannot deliver justice. Appeasement of one is injustice to the other. That is why justice to all and appeasement of none is the BJP policy," the union minister said.