FACING criticism from several quarters over his remarks saying that backward communities “cannot breathe easily” in the Muslim-dominated Malappuram district, Ezhava community leader Vellapally Natesan Friday found a surprise defendant. Speaking at a reception at Natesan’s hometown Cherthala, to honour Natesan on completing 30 years as general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Ezhava leader had been “misrepresented” when he termed Malappuram “a special country and a state with a special section of people”. “Though some recent controversies have arisen, those who know Natesan closely are well aware that he is not against any religion. His criticism was directed at a political party,” the CM said, hinting at the IUML, and adding that Natesan’s remarks were “based on current reality”. Vijayan went on to advise Natesan to be cautious in what he says, as “our society is like that”. “It does not mean that there was a lapse on his part… All those who wanted to support that political party came out against the statement.” Ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections next year, Natesan is a leader no party wants to alienate. The SNDP that he heads is the preeminent party of the Ezhavas, a numerically strong backward class Hindu group, and its political wing, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), is an NDA ally. The BJDS chairman is Natesan’s son Thushar Vellappally. Natesan made his alleged anti-Muslim remarks on April 4, while speaking at a convention in Malappuram district. While the Hindutva groups and the BJP had come out in support of what the SNDP leader said, the CPI(M) had stayed silent so far. While Vijayan spoke on the Natesan issue only on Friday, he has earlier suggested that the drug and gold smuggling rackets in the state could be traced to Malappuram. Various Muslim organisations had earlier urged the CM to stay away from the reception for Natesan. Following Natesan’s statement, former Kerala BJP chief K Surendran said that non-Muslims could not open hotels and eateries in Malappuram during the month of Ramzan, while Hindu Aikya Vedi state president R V Babu said Hindus, who are in a minority in Malappuram, are being “neglected”. The IUML, a Congress ally which finds itself in the crosshairs of both the Left and BJP in Kerala due to shifting political equations, has refused to be drawn into the controversy so far. Before the Lok Sabha elections last year, the CPI(M) had tried to warm up to the IUML, hailing the party for its “secular stand” and indicating that “Left doors would be open for the IUML”. At the time, apprehensive of the BJP garnering the Hindu vote, the CPI(M) was wooing the Muslims, traditionally Congress voters in Kerala, and the Left campaign was centred around issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. However, since it was routed by the Congress-led UDF in the Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) has made a U-turn and is once again wooing the Hindu vote while attacking the IUML. In the Lok Sabha bypoll held in Wayanad last November, Vijayan had claimed that the Jamaat-e-Islami which, he said, stood for an “Islamic regime”, was trying to gain influence in the IUML. IUML state president Sadiq Ali Thangal was behaving like “a follower of the Jamaat-e-Islami”, the CM had said. The CPI(M) gambit for the Ezhava vote makes sense as despite the BDJS’s alliance with the BJP, a large section of the community is still known for its traditional CPI(M) leaning. The LDF is also mindful of the BJP gaining ground among Christians in the state, a minority group as powerful in Kerala as the Muslims, by playing on their fears regarding Islamist fundamentalism. On another contentious issue among the Muslims recently, the Waqf (Amendment) Act passed by Parliament, the Vijayan government’s response has been guarded. It has resisted calls by Muslim groups to pass a resolution against the Act in the Assembly, like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have done.
