Caste rules as Kerala Assembly elections near
Political parties are busy chalking out their caste priorities in a bid to woo vote banks.
Thiruvananthapuram: Caste plays a major role Kerala politics, and there was a drastic social imbalance in the 2011 Assembly elections, especially in Congress, with insufficient Ezhava candidates.
Out of the 72 UDF legislators, only three were Ezhava – K. Babu, Adoor Prakash and K. Achuthan. Nairs contested more than 20 seats and won many. According to 2011 Census, Hindus comprise 54.73 percent of Kerala population. The state is 26.56 percent Muslim and 18.3 percent Christian. The Ezhava community forms the majority of Hindus - close to 30 percent.
Congress had an array of Ezhava leaders like R. Sankar, C. Kesavan, Thachadi Prabhakaran, Vakkom Purushothaman, Vayalar Ravi, C. V. Padmarajan, Mullappally Ramachandran, K. K. Viswanathan, Kadavoor Sivadasan and V. M. Sudheeran. That has dwindled drastically now.
Present leaders include K. Sudhakaran, Satheeshan Pacheni, P. M. Suresh Babu, T. Saratchandra Prasad, M. Liju and Bindu Krishna. Mr Pacheni had been contesting Assembly elections in 1996, 2001 and 2006 but lost all. He also contested in 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Palakkad and lost by a whisker.
“Ezhava leaders never got the priority they deserve in Congress. It is a stark reality that there is no social balance in Congress,” he told DC.
Ms Krishna, Mahila Congress president, was trounced in Chathannur in 2011 and later in Attingal Parliament seat. She feels the CPM has more Ezhava leaders.
“Ezhavas belong to OBC and have been marginalised. Now Hindus mean more of Nairs,” she said.
But political analyst J. Prabhash feels it is not deliberate as allies like IUML were bargaining for more leaving Congress with fewer seats. Out of 140 seats, Congress had contested in 82, Muslim League 24 and Kerala Congress (Mani) 15. Other smaller allies also were also in the fray in 2011.
“Congress’s vote bank has always been Christians, Nairs and Muslims with less of Ezhava votes. But in the case of CPM, their social base has been Ezhavas, Nairs, Muslims and Christians in that order. So I don’t think the Ezhava Congress leaders are being marginalised deliberately,” Mr Prabhash said.
Senior Congress leader C. V. Padmarajan told DC that if the organisational elections had taken place in time, this issue of Ezhava leaders being sidelined would not have cropped up.
What is now happening is “adjustment politics” and leaders at the helm are keen to ‘accommodate’ their people. Political commentator B. R. P. Bhaskar feels Congress has failed in resisting communal and religious polarisation.
“For election reasons, Congress is making compromises,” he told DC.
“Though Congress is a secular party, it has invariably become a Nair party. If you look at the two factions in the Congress, Oommen Chandy faction is more Christian, and Ramesh Chennithala faction has got more Hindus than what K. Karunakaran had.”
KPCC had appointed senior Congress leader Vakkom Purushothaman to study the defeat of candidates in 2011, which is yet to see the light of the day.
Sources close to him told DC that the issue of Ezhavas being sidelined in the Congress party is on expected lines now compared with the early 80s. He will take up the issue at the third sitting of Congress election committee on Saturday.
