Even as the BJP is working hard to make maximum possible achievements in the Assembly election to be held in May, the two main parties in the State, Congress and CPI(M) are engaged in battle against fighting each other over allegations regarding which side has been keeping overt and covert connections with the Sangh Pariwar.
While the Congress continues to attack the Marxists over the alliance it had with the Jan Sangh in the 1977 election and is finding a secret understanding between the CPI(M) and the RSS in the recent proposal for talks to end political violence in Kannur, the Marxists are hitting back by pointing at the alliance the Congress had allegedly had with the BJP in the 1991 polls.
“The common factor in the arguments is the BJP and the underlying message is clear - that the BJP and the Sangh Pariwar are untouchable elements,” pointed out senior journalist of a pro-Congress newspaper. “The strategy is simple. Both sides feel that the only way to ensure the support of the minorities is to project the Sangh Pariwar as the ultimate evil,” he added.
The current round of battle over the alleged Sangh links of the two main fronts was triggered by none other than Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with his reference on Monday to Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s proposal to hold talks with the CPI(M) to put an end to the recurring political violence in Kannur.
Chandy referred to this proposal and CPI(M) Politbureau member Pinarayi Vijayan’s half-positive response to it as indications of an understanding between the Marxists and the Sangh in the context of the upcoming Assembly poll. State Congress president VM Sudheeran also made allegations of connections between the CPI(M) and the RSS-BJP.
On Tuesday, the CPI(M) unleashed a scathing against attack the Congress for these allegations. State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan asked Chandy and Sudheeran to recall the tie-up the Congress had had with the BJP in the lok Sabha and Assembly elections adding that the RSS votes had fallen in the kitty of the Congress in 50 Assembly constituencies then.
“The Congress had then promised to ensure victory for the BJP in two Assembly seats. In that election, the RSS had voted for Chandy in his home constituency, Puthuppally. Can Chandy deny thisIJ AK Antony was the State Congress chief then. Chandy and Sudheeran had adopted a policy of silence to this,” Kodiyeri said.
Justifying the left’s alliance with the Janata Party and others in the 1977 election, Kodiyeri said the main purpose of that understanding was to end the Emergency. “It has been proved that this decision was correct. Chandy and Sudheeran were later emboldened to speak against Emergency because of the change of rule that was made possible in 1977,” the CPI(M) secretary said.
Referring to the suspicions aired by the Congress over the proposal for RSS-CPI(M) talks on violence in Kannur, Kodiyeri said, “The Congress wants the RSS and the CPI(M) to remain in conflict forever. The Congress’s strategy is to indulge in vote-exchange with BJP supporters who turn anti-Marxists because of such conflict,” the CPI(M) leader said.
Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan attacked Chandy saying that it was the Chief Minister who had been cooperating with the BJP and RSS overtly and covertly. “He had used this strategy in the June 27 Assembly by-election in Aruvippuram,” he said. The BJP’s votes in Aruvippuram in that election had grown five-fold in comparison with the previous poll.
A senior BJP leader said his party was not bothered about this battle between the Congress and the Marxists. “It is part of a competition between them to appease the minorities. let them do that. We won’t be dragged into that slanging match. We have our own works to do,” he said.