Protocol Faux Pas: PM’s Office Ignores Kerala’s First BJP Mayor from Airport Greeting
Our Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram: The exclusion of newly elected BJP Mayor V V Rajesh from the official airport protocol list during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Thiruvananthapuram on January 23, 2026, has surprised many, including the state leadership of the party.
In a state where the BJP has fought tooth and nail for relevance, Rajesh’s triumph as Kerala’s first BJP mayor—seizing the capital corporation after 45 years of Left rule—was no ordinary win. Prime Minister Modi himself celebrated it lavishly in early January, calling it “epoch-making,” a “milestone written in golden letters,” and a source of “immense pride” for the party nationwide. He personally congratulated Rajesh via letter, signaling high-level endorsement of this southern breakthrough.
Yet, when Modi touched down at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport around 10:25-10:30 AM, the welcome party was conspicuously narrow: Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and a handful of others. Rajesh—the city’s elected head—was nowhere on the dignitaries’ list. Multiple sources confirm his name was deliberately omitted from the protocol approved by the Prime Minister’s Office, despite earlier media buzz, party expectations, and even some pre-visit claims that the mayor would welcome the PM at the airport.
True, Rajesh later appeared on the dais during Modi’s public event at Putharikkandam Maithanam, where the PM warmly called him “my old friend” and “the pride of Thiruvananthapuram.” The gesture was noted and appreciated by supporters. But protocol snubs are not erased by later compliments. The airport welcome is the symbolic first handshake—the moment national leadership publicly acknowledges local victors. By sidelining Rajesh there, the central machinery sent an unmistakable signal: even historic local gains in a resistant state like Kerala are treated as secondary to established hierarchies.
Commenting on the exclusion, a BJP sympathiser said , “This is politically reckless. It demoralizes the very Kerala BJP cadre who toiled for this milestone, reinforcing the nagging perception that Delhi calls the shots while regional leaders remain on the margins. Workers who saw Rajesh’s victory as proof of grassroots penetration now face questions about how much that breakthrough truly matters upstairs.”
The damage extends further. A neutral political observer opined that the exclusion (from the list of dignitaries) “hands the opposition a devastating talking point on a silver platter. LDF and UDF leaders can—and likely will—hammer home the line: Even Prime Minister Modi doesn’t consider the BJP’s own mayor important enough for an airport greeting.” As he observes “In the heated prelude to the 2026 assembly elections, such optics feed directly into longstanding narratives of the BJP as a north Indian party aloof from Kerala’s local ethos and sensitivities. It undermines months of careful messaging around development, inclusivity, and southern outreach.”
The irony is sharp. Just weeks earlier, Rajesh was prominently included in the airport reception for Vice President C P Radhakrishnan. Yet for the Prime Minister’s high-profile visit—laden with project inaugurations, train flaggings, and welfare scheme launches—the mayor was left off the initial list. This inconsistency exposes sloppy coordination or worse, a cavalier attitude toward hard-won regional symbols.
This is far beyond etiquette; it is a self-inflicted wound. The BJP’s rare Kerala foothold demands meticulous nurturing, not avoidable slights that erode momentum and arm critics. If the party truly values its “golden milestone” in Thiruvananthapuram, such protocol failures must never repeat—lest they confirm the very doubts the opposition loves to exploit.
