Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister AK Antony on Friday admitted that a large number of people in Kerala were not prepared to trust the secularism advocated by his party. “The situation is so bad that a problem of credibility arises at the very mention of the word secularism,” he said.
Speaking at a function organised at Indira Bhavan, the headquarters of Kerala’s Congress unit in Thiruvananthapuram, Antony, who had the other day admitted that the party was in the middle of a deep crisis, said that there was a general complaint among many people that the Congress had been showing special consideration for certain castes and communities.
The Congress should be able to avoid a situation where special consideration was being given to any particular section at least in Kerala, he told his party colleagues. “Many people are unable to understand the slogan Equal Justice for All and Equal Consideration for All,” Antony said, adding the Congress should be ready for self-examination.
“It seems that we are unable to generate trust among all sections when we speak of secularism. Are we slanting to any sideIJ Are we showing nearness to any particular sectionIJ” Antony asked, presumably in indirect reference to the general impression that the Congress in Kerala had been giving special consideration for Muslims because of its alliance with the Muslim league.
Stating that Kerala was vulnerable to communalism, Antony said, “We should examine why there is a rise in communal feeling in Kerala, a State where secularism has immense influence.” He added the party should be able to oppose minority communalism just as it was opposing majority communalism.
Senior Congress leader Mullappally Ramachandran, former Union Minister of State for Home, said the Congress had suffered a big fall and leaders should openly tell the top leadership about the reasons for this fall. Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, former KPCC chief, said the Congress should review the results of the 16th lok Sabha polls in the national level.
Antony’s call for re-establishing the credibility of Congress’s secular principle has come in the context of the growth in the vote share of the BJP in Kerala as seen in the 16th lok Sabha election. The Congress leader had the other day admitted that the BJP had been able to broaden its mass base in Kerala.
Observers feel that Antony’s effort is to convince his party colleagues that it is high time the Congress woke up to the challenges being posed by the BJP in Kerala. They say that Antony, being a shrewd politician, understands that the BJP is fast emerging as a big challenge for the Congress in the State in addition to the left.
“It is obvious that he is trying to tell party leaders like Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who are often accused of dancing to the tune of the Muslim league that appeasement of a particular section alone will be counter-productive, especially when more and more Hindu community outfits are showing readiness to support the BJP,” said a senior journalist.