Thiruvananthapuram: The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam has decided to float a political party at its maha rally on Shanghumugham beach on Jan 31. The SNDP is mobilizing around four lakh members from the community to turn up for the rally.
Vice-president Thushar Vellapally said the rally would highlight the neglect of the Ezhava community in educational, political and employment sectors. Contrary to previous announcements, there are no plans for a tie-up with the Nair Service Society.
It was in July 2013, that SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Nateshan had announced his plans to either revive the defunct Socialist Republican Party (SRP) founded 20 years ago or to float a new party.
The aim to have a new party was to call for ‘social justice’ for all the Other Backward Communities (OBCs) and to stall political exploitation by the minorities. Over and above all that, Vellapally Nateshan is also keen to project his son Thushar as the next in line of the Ezhava movement.
“I have been working in the movement since the last 15 years and so there is no need to promote me as a leader. We don’t have plans to wait until the Assembly elections to announce our new party. So we are most likely to announce the new party at the upcoming Ezhava Maha Sangamam”, said Thushar.
According to the latest census report, Ezhavas constitute more than 50 per cent of the total 3.25 crore population, followed by Muslims (24 per cent) and Christians (22 per cent). But Thushar claimed that both the ruling and opposition fronts in the State had always been showing injustice to the Ezhava community.
“While the Government has been providing free training to Muslim IAS/IPS aspirants, not a single student from the Ezhava community had been given such a priority”, said Thushar. However, the SRP formed 20 years ago by a leading Ezhava leader like Pachady Sreedharan, was not as strong as the current SNDP Yogam movement.
“We are not against other communities. The rights of OBCs have been suppressed and this cannot be tolerated and everyone requires ‘social justice’. Today, a caste- based party has its prominence unlike the defunct SRP as the organisation was not so strong then”, said Thushar.
