It now looks as if the sub-plot, the political battle to win Muslim hearts, is gradually emerging as the most prominent narrative in Kerala's fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
On one side is Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan making a series of high-profile, nationally-celebrated moves that could win him huge respect within the Muslim community.
Under his leadership a unanimous resolution was passed in the Kerala Assembly for the withdrawal of the CAA; he was among the few chief ministers who said the CAA would not be implemented; he was the first Chief Minister to say that all work related to the National Population Register would be stopped; his government was also the first in the country to challenge the CAA in the Supreme Court.
Facing Pinarayi are the Congress and the Muslim League that have found themselves upstaged even after organising far more anti-CAA protest marches and meetings than the Left across the state. Unlike their LDF counterparts, the UDF MLAs and MPs had organised innumerable local protests. And while the LDF has largely been reluctant, the UDF had enthusiastically taken part in mass rallies organised by mosque or 'mahal' committees all over the state.
Yet, it is the Chief Minister who looks to have stolen the show.
Advantage Pinarayi
Pinarayi knows the Muslim community is badly rattled and, as is expected from a leader, has given them confidence.
During a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on January 20, Pinarayi made a direct appeal to the Muslims: “The CAA will not be implemented in the State, we have already said. Activities related to the National Population Register, too, will not be undertaken in Kerala. If there is no NPR, there is no NRC (National Register of Citizens). You don't have to fear. You are within an impregnable fort. You are in Kerala. The Government will always be with you.”
Pinarayi Vijayan as Mr Dependable for nearly 27 per cent of the state's population that had historically kept the Left at a distance.
The acceptability Pinarayi seems to have developed among Muslims could also quicken healing. It was only recently, last November, that its Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan had alleged that it were extreme Muslim outfits in Malabar that were nourishing Maoism. The Muslim League had then said the CPM had slighted the entire Muslim community. After Pinarayi's bold and swift anti-CAA moves, the slight seems to have been forgotten.
Recovering lost ground
The UDF is now desperate to beat back what looks like an imminent emotional conquest. This it intends to do mainly by exposing what it calls the hypocrisy of Pinarayi's anti-CAA stand, and also by undermining some of Pinarayi's celebrated moves.
The LDF government has, for instance, said it would block the NPR activities in the State but would allow Census work to go on unimpeded. The UDF now wants even the Census to be put on hold.
“The Cabinet decision to go ahead with the Census is a matter of great concern. Census and NPR are inextricably linked. The same enumerators collect details for both. This has created a lot of fear. The government should consider whether it is right to go ahead with the Census work when such a fear exists. There could be law and order issues if the Census work is allowed without addressing concerns,” opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said.
Secret NPR plans
The opposition leader said there were suspicions about the Pinarayi government, too. “This is a government that had tried to bring in the NPR through the back door even while publicly claiming that all activities had been stopped,” Chennithala said.
It was Muslim League leader M K Muneer who first alleged that the Chief Minister had secretly issued an order directing officials to go ahead with the NPR activities in the State. Muneer also produced a letter written by the Thamarassery tahsildar asking for enumerators and supervisors for the updation of the NPR.
“The aggression the Chief Minister is now showing is an attempt to cover the embarrassment of having been found out,” said Congress MLA V T Balram. “Till date the CPM had not organised any major protest marches against the CAA. Their first agitation is the human chain scheduled for January 23. Whereas the UDF had been organising protests and marches right from the middle of December,” Balram said.
Pinarayi's hidden side
The UDF leaders also allege that the Chief Minister's show of boldness is only a mask. “Why has the Chief Minister not uttered even a word when the Governor questioned the constitutionality of the resolution we passed in the Assembly,” Balram said.
Muslim League MLA M Ummer said Pinarayi Vijayan had also exhibited a shocking subservience to the Prime Minister. “No Marxist Chief Minister had ever given presents to a Prime Minister. But our Chief Minister went to Modi's house and presented him with an Aranmula Kannadi. Can you ever imagine Jyothi Basu visiting Vajpayee and offering him a present,” he said.
Nonetheless, even Ummer conceded that the Chief Minister's actions might have satisfied Muslims. “They definitely would feel nice about anyone willing to stand by them. Even Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray would have suddenly felt agreeable to the Muslims for his refusal to implement CAA,” Ummer said.
Danger of isolation
The UDF leaders but still express the hope that Pinarayi had not managed a breakthrough. According to them, the Chief Minister's eagerness to show himself up as the protector of minorities was also fueled by the realisation that there were record turnouts at rallies organised by Muslim organisations from which the CPM had kept off.
Perumbavoor, for instance, saw over 35,000 people turning up on December 20 for a protest rally called by the Kunnathunad Taluk Samyuktha Vedhi, a combine of all Muslim religious organisations in the taluk.
And then on January 1, Kochi witnessed perhaps its biggest ever resistance mobilisation. Lakhs had participated in the rally organised jointly by various Muslim organisations like Samastha Kerala Jamiyathul Ulama, Kerala Muslim Jamaat, Dakshina Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen, Jamaat-e-Islam and Muslim League.
The CPM had kept out saying the anti-CAA protests were being communalised. “The CPM has been left far behind and it is now trying to do some catch up,” Balram said.
