Is the secularism adopted and advocated by the left equivalent to appeasement of the minoritiesIJ CPI's Kerala secretary Kanam Rajendran has kick-started a debate on these lines in Kerala with the admission he made the other day that the left' secularism seemed to be meant for the minorities.
Confused by what Kanam said, the CPI(M) on Friday said it did not want to enter into a dispute with the CPI at this time when the relations between the two parties was in good condition but leaders of the majority community seemed to be welcoming the statement. "The left should have had this understanding long ago," said the leaders of a majority community outfit.
"It seems that the secularism of the left is tilted in favour of the minorities. If the majority community raises such a complaint, it cannot be faulted," the CPI secretary had said at Thalassery in Kannur the other day. "The left, including the communists, should do a serious rethinking on this matter," he said.
Kanam went on to say that the ideological barrier between the left and the Hindutwa forces had become very thin of late. "That should be the reason why migration to both sides is happening," he said in an obvious reference to the recent flow of workers and sympathizers of the CPI(M) into the BJP and vice-versa in places like Kannur.
The CPI leader went a step further ahead on Friday in his evaluation of the State's community situation with the statement, "The Kerala society is one in which the minorities are fast becoming majority. I had made the statement the other day with the intention of giving start to a transparent debate. Communists also should discuss this."
Observers are of the opinion that Kanam's statement is related to the massive flow of CPI(M) workers and sympathizers into the BJP as proved in the recent Assembly by-election in Aruvikkara. The BJP, which had polled just 7,694 votes in the 2011 Assembly election, bagged 34,145 votes in the by-poll.
"Kanam's statement shows the compulsions being felt by the communists of Kerala in the context of the growth the BJP has achieved suddenly. There is a feeling - and it is almost right - that the BJP has achieved this growth by attracting the Hindus who had till now been supporting the left," said a senior editor of a leading Malayalam newspaper.
According to observers, Kanam was trying to tell the left, more specifically the CPI(M) which is leading the lDF, that survival would be difficult in the changed
scenario if a new policy was not formulated for winning the confidence of the
majority communities. Kanam had said in Thalassery, "The left should reformulate its strategies to suit the changing times."
However, the CPI(M) does not seem to be prepared to take up the matter at this juncture. Responding to Kanam's statement, State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Friday that its secularism was not equivalent to minority appeasement, "People of all religions should have equal rights. Secularism is necessary for the survival of the society," he said.