Kerala will march to the polling booths in just a few days,but the electioneering in the state is still stuck on Muslim politics. Critical issues of national and state importance have been relegated to the backburner as the Congress and the CPIM continue to hurl allegations and counter-allegations at each other about nexuses both parties have forged with various fringe Muslim organisations.
Earlier,the strategic poll alliance of the CPIM with Abdul Nasser Madhanis Peoples Democratic Party had fired up political debates. But controversies over support from Muslim outfits to mainstream parties have spread with the strong reactions to the decision of the Jamaat-e-Islami to support the CPIM-led Left Democratic Front and that of the Popular Front of India PFI to support the Congress-led United Democratic Front UDF.
When the PFI offered its support to the UDF,party leaders were eager distance themselves. The Congress has not sought the support of the PFI. We have no alliance with the PFI. At the same time,the party cannot examine the horoscope of those who promise their votes, said senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy in Kottayam on Saturday.
The PFI support to the Congress was a godsend for the CPIM to balance the embarrassment over its links with the PDP. CPIM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told an election meeting in Malappuram that his party felt relieved that the PFI did not offer to support the LDF.
The PFI is an agent of the US. That party has not yet shed its communal agenda,though it has shed its earlier name,the National Development Front, he said. Campaign meetings of both the Congress and the CPIM were dominated on Saturday by the Jamaat-e-Islami and PFI.
The CPIMs bonhomie with erstwhile terror suspect Madhani had given an edge to the Congress on the issue of fighting terrorism. But it has also lost supporters. The move of some Muslim organisations to specifically campaign against Congress candidates Shashi Tharoor Thiruvananthapuram and K V Thomas Ernakulam for their alleged pro-Israeli stand has given a fresh dimension to the Muslim factor. Then there was the state-wide political tour launched by Madhani on Friday to counter the terror charges against him and also to attack the Congress for its pro-Israel approach. Madhani has already threatened to make certain revelations about the previous elections,in which various leaders had solicited PDP votes.
It is really saddening that genuine issues have got sidelined in the crucial elections. The nation is debating steps to overcome the economic crisis. While in Kerala,the campaigning has given an impression that the nuclear deal was to affect the Muslims only. The CPIM has been trying to exploit the ignorance of a section of the Muslims, said M K Muneer,state secretary of Indian Union Muslim League IUML.
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The BJP has also put in its two pennies. By ensuring the support of extremist Muslim organisations,the Congress and the CPIM have put the state in a precarious position. We will try to expose the attempt of the Congress and the CPIM to give shelter to extremist elements in mainstream politics, said BJP state president P K Krishnadas,who is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram.
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