The Congress and the UDF in Kerala are pondering over the causes of the recent electoral debacle but KPCC vice-president V D Satheesan is sure that the party’s failure to assert its secular credentials did it in. “Only the Congressmen voted for us; we lost the support of the majority and the minority communities alike,” he told Deccan Chronicle in an interview. “Being secular is not a disqualification; it’s our legacy. Standing by it is the only way out.” Excerpts:
Q: How does the Congress high command perceive the loss in Kerala?
A: I think the high command is of the opinion that this election could have been won, but the state leadership let it slip.
Q: There were reports that you angered the Sangh parivar when you brought out documents to prove its argument that wealth from the temples owned by Devaswom boards go to the state exchequer wrong. Weren’t you afraid of its electoral ramifications?
A: I was not. It’s true that they had vowed to ensure my defeat. BJP president Amit Shah came here to campaign for the BDJS candidate. SNDP Yogam general secretary said he would resort even to black magic to defeat me. They tried to brand me as anti-Hindu; they even tried to play caste card. But I retaliated by stepping up the attack on the RSS because I believed their attempt is to divide people on communal lines. I believe in secularism, and I believe people are secular.
It’s the community and political leaders who make people communal. Being secular is not a disqualification; it’s our shared legacy. So, I decided that I will not go back on my stand for electoral gains, lest I be a dishonest politician. And the people trusted me. I have increased my votes compared to last time in most booths; and brought down the margin where I lagged last time.
I verified the data in detail and found that my stand benefitted me everywhere. For example, last time I trailed by 70 votes in Thuithura which has a predominantly Ezhava population but I led by 160 votes this time. I brought down my deficit in a booth in Pattanam from 275 in 2011 to 8. I quoted these figures to prove that people stood by me when I stood by secularism.
Q: Wasn’t the writing on the wall clear to the KPCC and the UDF?
A: I had told the party leadership clearly before the local body polls in November that we need to be a credible in our stand against the communal forces. Only K. Muraleedharan supported me; the party agreed to it in principle but did nothing about it. The result: People did not feel that we are against communal forces. Only the Congressmen voted for us; we lost the support of the majority and the minority communities alike.
I decided that I will not dilute my stand. I said publicly that if my membership in the Assembly is a gift community leaders offered me, then I would rather lose it. I told my voters that I would like to lose fighting the communal forces head on rather than be mild about them and win elections.
I told them the story of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru standing guard at the gates of Jamia Milia University in Delhi against the marauding crowds during Partition. I insisted that secularism is a legacy passed on to us by such great leaders who had a perfect vision on the future of this country.
Q: How did it benefit during electioneering?
A: The fight became political. We set the agenda and let the people to decide whether they should choose religious segmentation over politics. And they chose the right one.
Q: There is a charge that the Congress governments practiced secularism as minority appeasement.
A: Secularism is not minority appeasement, and the Congress leaders also need to be clear about it. It’s about doing justice to all. I have noted that steps taken by governments which could be interpreted as minority appeasement could provide a fertile ground for majority communalism to grow and thrive.
I have also noted that minority and majority communalism feed each other. When I took on SDPI, they put up a candidate against me saying that I was against minorities. I got more votes in places where Muslims reside.
Q: Don’t you think several steps by the UDF government gave fodder to communal forces, including the fifth minister for the Muslim League.
A: Absolutely. The Congress should have handled it deftly. There was an agreement with the Muslim League to give them an additional post, and that should have been honoured. Instead, it was allowed to be drawn to the streets. We were dishonest in dealing with the issue. The discussion around the fifth minister resulted in the social fabric of Kerala being shredded to pieces. We damaged our society for no reason.
Q: You will have to share the Opposition space with NDA in Kerala. Do you think the leadership with a questionable track record can do its job well?
A: There are issues. It’s for the party high command to decide.
