Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the state chief of the BJP and a prominent candidate of the party in the upcoming Kerala Assembly Elections, has provoked the CPM by mocking its use of ‘Che Guevara’ as a political symbol.

To drive across his point, Chandrasekhar, the BJP’s candidate in Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, posted a photograph presumably taken during ‘kottikkalasam’, the final day of public campaign in Kerala before polling on April 9.

In the photograph, supporters of the CPM and BJP could be seen standing side by side on a road, waving flags in a show of strength. The most dominant flag held up by the BJP supporters is that of renowned Maratha ruler Shivaji, while the comrades wave the iconic Che Guevara motif, the one with a single-star beret cap.

“There are many differences between BJP and CPM. But here’s one more - our flags celebrate great Indian Chatrapathi Shivaji and Marxists have to borrow some foreigner (Che) as their icon,” Chandrasekhar posted, spraying a few smiling emojis, possibly to lighten the mood.

The post sparked a social media debate, with some siding with Chandrasekhar’s view and others accusing him of misreading the cultural significance of ‘Che’. One of the comments said: "At least Che Guevara had something to do with the communist ideology, meanwhile Shivaji is being appropriated because RSS/BJP lacks icons."

In a social media post from two years ago, Vanchit Bahujan Agadi party leader Prakash Ambedkar criticised the RSS-BJP of appropriating Shivaji for political gain. “The RSS-BJP never acknowledged and will never acknowledge his social upward stance about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj because it goes against their “framed” narrative and grain of their superiority! Nor will they accept his war vijay efforts. The RSS has appropriated him in a very different singular identity,” posted Prakash Ambedkar, who is the grandson of B R Ambedkar.

Argentine Marxist revolutionary 'Che' is a popular youth icon, endorsed by the communist party, often by its student organisation, SFI. Journalist Prem Panicker touched upon this point as he quote-posted Chandrasekhar’s photograph. “Except, Che is a familiar icon for decades. I used to have a T-shirt when I was in college. Shivaji is recently coopted into the BJP iconography,” Panicker posted.

Kerala’s communists have had a long connection with Cuba, where Che waged a revolution alongside Fidel Castro to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Senior CPM leaders, including the current Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have visited Cuba. In return, Che’s daughter, Dr Aleida Guevara, visited Kerala multiple times and was treated as a ‘state guest’ by the LDF government.