George Gurion, BJP’s senior Christian face in Kerala, Narendra Modi He has suddenly entered the Union Cabinet of Ministers led by him. Kurian previously served as the Deputy Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities.
Kurian, 63, hails from Kottayam and is currently the BJP Kerala unit vice-president. A lawyer by profession, Kurian is a familiar face in televised debates and is often taken to translate the speeches of Modi and Amit Shah during the party’s public events in the state. His inclusion in the Council of Ministers is seen as another attempt by the BJP to reach out to the Christian community.
Kurian belonged to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, one of the most prominent Christian churches in Kerala. Among various Christian groups, there has been a lot of interest in BJP members in the past. Suresh Gopi’s success in Thrissur was partly due to the support of Christians, especially Catholics.
Kurian has served as the state general secretary and national secretary of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha since the formation of the BJP in 1980, and has been the party’s official spokesperson in the state before assuming leadership in the state BJP. He also served as a member of the National Executive Committee of the party. At a time when the Kurian community was not on the BJP’s radar, he began traveling ideologically with the Sangh Parivar in the Christian zone of Kerala.
Senior BJP leader PK Krishnadas told the media that Kurian’s inclusion in the cabinet was a big recognition for the state. “We now have two ministers from Kerala. This shows that Narendra Modi has paid due attention to the state,” he said.
During his tenure at the National Commission for Minorities, Kurian shared the concerns of the Christian community in Kerala over the “love jihad” controversy. In the 2016 assembly elections, Kurian contested on a BJP ticket from Pudupalli against the then chief minister and Congress candidate Oomman Chandy. When senior BJP leader O Rajagopal was a Union minister in the Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004, Kurian served as his officer on special duty.
The first Modi government inducted bureaucrat-turned-politician Alphonse Kannanthan as joint minister for tourism. Kannandanam was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
