1st phase of Kerala local polls today: CPM tries to wrest secular position, says Jamaat party in Congress wing

In its campaign pitch, the CPI(M) tried to portray the poll understanding as the Congress’s ostensible overture to “communal elements”, while the WPI has called it “hypocrisy” on part of the Communist party and pointed out that it was aligned with the LDF not long ago.

Both CPI(M) and the Congress, meanwhile, accuse each other of helping the Sangh Parivar increase its footprint in the state. Results of the civic body polls are significant in that they are generally considered to reflect the political mindset of the state, which is scheduled to hold Assembly polls next summer.

On Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the UDF and the BJP of vying with each other to make political gains from communalism. The UDF, he said, has joined hands with both BJP and Jamaat, and that this “unholy nexus” would reflect in results.

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Source: State Election Commission; PTI

CPI(M) state secretary and LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan said, “The Congress has gone into an alliance with WPI at the behest of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML, a UDF partner). The Congress has now adopted a stand that it can have alliance with communal forces. It is trying to give a public appeal for communal forces. This would lead to the Congress’s ruin.”

“That party’s (Congress’s) soft corner towards the Jamaat-e-Islami would only help further the Hindutva agenda of Sangh Parivar,’’ he asserted.

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WPI state president Hameed Vaniyambalam countered, saying that his party has formed electoral understanding with UDF in many local bodies “to strengthen the secular side at the national level”, and maintained that the CPI(M) campaign would only help strengthen the Sangh. “When WPI was with LDF, we were secular and progressive, but when we moved to the Congress, we are now dubbed communal,” he said. “The CPI(M) campaign against WPI shows that party’s (CPM’s) double standard and hypocrisy.”

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and state unit president Mullappally Ramachandran, meanwhile, played down the issue and denied an alliance with WPI. “The UDF has no alliance with any party outside the front. The Congress has a national policy not to have any alliance with communal outfits,’’ Venugopal said.

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Senior Congress leader and UDF convener M M Hassan explained: “It is not an alliance, but only an understanding at the local level. The UDF’s understanding with WPI is neither a political decision nor does it have a centralised approach. In 2015 local body elections, WPI had been with the LDF. Now, the CPI(M) is aiming for communal polarisation by targeting UDF,’’ he said.

The UDF’s electoral tie-up with WPI has also irked a section of Sunni segment, which is the main support base of UDF ally IUML, with several Sunni leaders having flayed the alliance.

Besides, a section of Christians, particularly the Catholic Church, has recently taken strong exception to the poll alliance with WPI.

After the exit of a faction of regional Christian party Kerala Congress (M) from UDF, the Catholic Church has voiced concern about the growing influence of IUML within UDF. Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, an influential body, recently dubbed the entry of WPI into UDF electoral plank as “a growing influence of pan-Islamic politics”.