The Congress-led UDF coalition came to power in Kerala in May, 2011 with the total support of the majority communities but two years later both the Congress and the Government have earned the total distrust of almost all of them, thanks to the pro-minorities policies they are allegedly following due to compulsions from front constituents based in minority communities.
The relations between the Congress and the main majority community outfits have worsened so much that the weekend saw both sides hurling charges at each other publicly, local units of the party and majority community outfits passing resolutions against each other and activists of both sides taking out demonstrations raising furious slogans.
Nair Service Society (NSS), the outfit of Hindu upper caste Nairs, and SNDP Yogam, the forum of backward Hindu caste Ezhavas, who together constitute almost 40 per cent of Kerala’s total population, have made it clear that the relationship has suffered irreparable damage, causing panic among Congress strategists in the context of the coming lok Sabha election.
The distrust and enmity between the two sides are so intense that the Government is now being accused of tapping the phone of NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair and SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan alleging that people close to State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala had been threatening him over the phone.
“The irony of the situation is that our party, though aware of the dangers implicit in the standoff as far as the next election is concerned, is unable to do anything to improve the relationship because of the continuing internal war between the ‘I’ group of Chennithala and the ‘A’ group led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy,” said a group-neutral senior Congress leader.
The rift between the majority community outfits and the Congress had started right from the initial days of the Government as there was no adequate representation of the majorities in the Cabinet but it evolved into a standoff in April last year when Chandy allowed a fifth man of the Muslim league to join the Cabinet, totally upsetting its community equilibrium.
When the NSS aired its unhappiness over this publicly, the Chief Minister tried to pacify it by reshuffling the portfolios of some of the Congress Ministers and making Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, a Nair and known to be close to the outfit, the second man in the Cabinet by giving him the Home portfolio. However, this was not enough to satisfy the Nair community.
“Caste does matter,” said a top leader of the NSS. “And look at the Cabinet’s structure. The Chief Minister is Chandy, a Christian. The second man is Muslim league’s Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty and the third top position of Finance Minister is held by KM Mani, a Christian. How can you expect pro-majorities policies from such a GovernmentIJ” he asked.
According to Sukumaran Nair, the NSS and the Congress high command had reached an understanding at the time of the 2011 Assembly election that a “key position” in the Cabinet would be given to Ramesh Chennithala, a Nair, to keep its minorities-majorities balance. He said the Kerala leadership (read Chandy) violated this understanding after the election.