Hijacking anti-CAA plank LDF in Kerala regains lost ground, leaves Cong clueless-

Thiruvananthapuram: After suffering a resounding defeat at the hands of the Congress-led UDF in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kerala’s ruling CPI(M)-controlled LDF is fast regaining much of the lost ground by hijacking the anti-CAA campaign, as the state assembly polls are just a year away.

The storm the LDF has unleashed over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has left the Congress and its allies, including the key partner Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), clueless in the state where Muslims account for nearly one-fourth of the electorate.

The discomfiture of the Congress springs from multiple sources. To start with, both the Left and the Congress are on the same page on the CAA. Both dub it as utterly anti-constitutional and a major step towards realizing the RSS’s vision of ‘Hindu Rashtra.’

It is binding on the Congress to gear up its entire strength to build a mass campaign on the issue along with its coalition partners. It will be politically suicidal to sign up with the LDF in organizing joint demonstrations. At the same time, it would be farcical to hit the street separately raising identical slogans against the BJP Government at the Centre. The party unit in the state is deeply divided over the course to be adopted.

The strength of the LDF campaign is that it is directly led by strongman chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who calls all shots in his party and the LDF. Determined to carry forward the campaign in full steam, earlier this month he called a meeting of all political parties and concerned social and community outfits to set up an umbrella forum called Constitution Protection Committee. The Government’s move put the Congress in a deep dilemma. Attending the meeting would mean acknowledging Vijayan’s leadership over a critical issue.

Boycotting it would attract criticism that the party was playing petty politics. After much debate, the party deputed its senior leader and MP Kodikkunnil Suresh, who is also the working president of the state unit, to the meeting. The opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran chose to stay away. The LDF Government, which basks in the glory of being the first non-BJP regime to bring in a resolution against the CAA in the state legislature and getting it adopted, also moved the supreme court against the contentious Act.

The public meetings addressed by the Chief Minister, held under the aegis of the Constitution Protection Committee, had drawn big crowds. More such rallies are in the offing.

As the anti-CAA stir dominates the political discourse, Congress in the state is finding it hard to bring to sharp focus vital state-centric topics like the grim financial crunch faced by Kerala, and take on the Government harshly over them. The party’s discomfort in the state is also heightened as the central leadership of the Congress has taken the Left as the most trusted partner in its struggles against the Narendra Modi government.

One of the prime factors that spoilt the LDF’s chances in the LS polls last year was its stance on the Sabarimala temple women entry question.

Following the 2018 apex court order that lifted the bar on female devotees of 10-50 age worshipping at the hills shrine, the government had extended implicit support to the historic order. But a few months back, the Supreme Court, while considering a review plea, constituted a larger bench to go into the basic constitutional issues pertaining to clash between the fundamental rights and traditions like the one followed by Sabarimala temple. Seizing on this, the Government had in the current pilgrim season has consciously steered clear of any confrontation with traditionalists. The LDF circles sound confident that this would help regain the lost support of a large chunk of the Hindus.

The LDF is certain to carry forward to the early next year’s assembly polls campaign its stir against the CAA, and other ‘anti-minority’ policies of the Modi Government. The CPI(M) strategists expect this would help the coalition win sizeable support of the Muslims, a majority of whom tended to vote for the UDF in the past elections. This has alarmed the Congress leadership in the state. It will be a uphill task for the party to build a logical narrative against the LDF rule that will outsell the rival’s electioneering that seeks to cash in on the minority worries and consolidate the support among the majority.