Kerala’s Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Nair Service Society (NSS), the outfit of Hindu upper caste Nairs which has traditionally been a supporter of the Congress, are heading for a direct confrontation over his Government’s alleged policy of favouritism towards minority communities and the neglect of the majority sections.
Strong signs of this came out the other day when G Sukumaran Nair, general secretary of the NSS, pooh-poohed Chandy’s claim that he was not the Chief Minister of the minorities but of the Congress party and Kerala State. Nair unleashed a scathing attack against Chandy charging him with stabbing two former Chief Ministers in the back to ensure his rise in politics.
In fact, the ire of the NSS - and some other Hindu community outfits like the SNDP Yogam of Ezhavas — is not against Chandy alone but against the entire nine-party ruling UDF coalition, especially its leader, the Congress. Observers say that this standoff, if allowed to continue, could badly affect the Congress and UDF in the coming lok Sabha polls.
Chandy had said in a recent television interview that he was saddened by the attempts to paint him as an anti-Hindu politician and as a Chief Minister of the minorities. He even challenged his detractors (NSS) to prove if the minorities had achieved anything they did not deserve under his rule and if he had not fulfilled any of the demands of the majority communities.
Sukumaran Nair reacted sharply to Chandy’s statement by saying that he had proof of how the UDF Government had made undeserving allotments and allocations to minority communities. At the same time, the Government had consistently refused to make allotments to majority communities despite repeated requests, he alleged.
“The NSS has never called the Chief Minister anti-Hindu. But we have said that he is interested in protecting the interests of the minorities. We have also said that he is neglecting the majority communities,” Nair said, adding that an examination of the policies and orders of the UDF Government would prove these points.
The NSS, a traditional supporter of the Congress and the UDF, had turned against them and Chandy over the dispute concerning the Muslim league’s demand for a fifth berth in the Cabinet. Despite intense objections, Chandy gave a fifth Cabinet post to the Muslim league, the second biggest constituent of the UDF, in April last year.
The induction of a fifth Muslim league Minister into the Cabinet terribly disturbed the community balance in the UDF Government. Of the 20 members - including the Chief Minister - of the Chandy Cabinet, only eight are Hindus though they constitute 56 per cent of the Kerala Population.
Chandy and State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala, himself a Nair who had been enjoying the NSS’s support till recently, offered to hold talks with Sukumaran Nair to end the standoff but he rejected it outright by saying that the issues between the two sides were beyond repair.
Stating that the downfall of Chandy (as Chief Minister) had already begun and that the NSS had never had any problem with any other Congress Chief Minister in the past, Sukumaran Nair said Chandy was a person who had stabbed former Chief Ministers K Karunakaran and AK Antony to rise to his present position.
Chandy had faced the allegation of playing a pivotal role in the removal of Karunakaran as Chief Minister in 1995 over the controversial ISRO espionage case. He faced similar charge when Antony resigned as Chief Minister in 2004 following the devastation of the Congress and the UDF in the lok Sabha polls in the State.