Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, said on Monday that the outfit would form a new political party in consultation with organisations of other communities. What is surprising is that Natesan, who has been an advocate of broader Hindu unity, has said the proposed party would be “secular”. He announced the decision after a session attended by leaders of backward Hindu communities and political observers in Alappuzha. He said the political party would be a platform for all those who advocate social justice. A final decision in this regard would be taken in December, he said. Natesan added that the Yogam workers could contest election to the local bodies as independents. [related-post] Earlier in the day, in a note circulated among participants of the meeting, SNDP Yogam said Kerala was ruled by minority parties of Kerala Congress (M) and Indian Union Muslim League. The Hindu communities have to depend on the leniency of minority communities for their survival, it stated. Political fronts led by the Congress and the CPM have sacrificed social justice for the minority vote bank, it added. The proposed party would be SNDP Yogam's second political experiment in the past 35 years. The Ezhava outfit had earlier launched a party named Socialist Republican Party on the eve of the 1980 Assembly polls. When United Democratic Front was formed under the leadership of Congress leader K Karunakaran, the Yogam's party became part of that front. However, the party did not contest the 1980 polls. In the 1982 polls, Socialist Republican Party won two seats. The party also had a minister in the UDF government led by Karunakaran. In the 1987 polls, the party contested four seats, but won none. Gradually, the party’s presence in Kerala politics faded away.
