Caste has once again been brought to the fore in Kerala with bye-polls around the corner. On Friday, the CPI (M) party filed a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner alleging that the Congress in Vattiyoorkavu constituency of Thiruvananthapuram has sought votes in the name of caste. The complaint has been filed by KC Vikraman, secretary of the Vattiyoorkavu Legislative Assembly constituency.
The complaint also states that the dominant caste organisation of the state – the Nair Service Society (NSS) - has openly extended support to Mohankumar on the basis of caste, and that the office-bearers of the Thiruvananthapuram Taluk Union approached houses of Nair community people with the request to vote for Mohankumar, the Congress candidate from Vattiyoorkavu. The letter was also attached with a report that appeared in the Mathrubhumi daily, as proof of the claim.
Discussions on caste — on the Nair community — had been brought to the fore by NSS General Secretary K Sukumaran Nair, who declared a ‘right’ distance, a shift from the previous equidistant strategy, in the elections.
CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan ever since, has been locking horns with Sukumaran Nair for the open support the organisation declared for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). On Friday, Kodiyeri claimed that there is ill-intention behind Sukumaran Nair backing the UDF and that there is resentment among the NSS workers themselves against this.
“It’s a precarious stand that has been taken in the name of a community organisation. It’s the NSS General Secretary who sought votes in the name of caste. But this won’t work because there are workers of all parties in the organisation who would vote for the parties they believe in,” Kodiyeri said at a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
In a related development, Chief Electoral Officer of the state Teeka Ram Meena in a ‘Meet the Press’ event organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club, said that it is not fair for community organisations to seek votes in the name of a particular community. He even said that the equidistant stand of the NSS was a good practice and questioned the deviation.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, in a strongly worded statement, said that the equidistant stand of the NSS didn’t mean to favour any political party. “The CPI (M)’s stand on the NSS is because the organisation is not backing the party,” Chennithala said.
The NSS, in April this year, had announced that they will be equidistant from both the LDF and the UDF in the Lok Sabha elections. In an editorial published in its magazine, the NSS had criticised all the three fronts for their stand on young women’s entry into the Sabarimala temple.
However, recently they have shifted from equidistance to a ‘right distance’ strategy. Sukumaran Nair had called for the community members to find the right distance in the bye-elections to the five constituencies, criticising both the LDF for implementing the SC order allowing women of menstrual age to worship in Sabarimala temple, as well as the BJP for not doing anything on the issue. He said both the state and the Union governments didn’t do anything for the protection of faith, and this prompted the shift in strategy.
This has come as a boost for the UDF and Congress leaders, who have wholeheartedly welcomed the stand. Kanam Rajendran, state secretary of CPI(M)’s major ally CPI, took the stand that poll outcomes were seldom determined by the decisions of community organisations.
Vellappally Natesan, General Secretary of another prominent community organisation SNDP, has slammed the NSS for publicly campaigning for the UDF, saying that seeking votes in the name of caste would turn Kerala into a 'lunatic asylum'.
The ‘right distance’ stand of the NSS, however, has come as a blow to the CPI(M)’s attempt to woo community organisations ahead of the elections.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, in an election campaign for VK Prasanth, CPI (M) candidate for Vattiyoorkkavu, on Friday said that the Congress has aligned with the BJP, which divides people on the basis of caste and religion. "The Congress is not interested in discussing development, instead they seek the support of the NSS and are frequenting churches for communal appeasement," he alleged.