Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM’s amicable stand towards the Muslim League is not considered a move for a political alliance by the Party centres; rather it is a calculated move to confuse the UDF and the League itself.
Realising the CPM tactic, Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal clarified that League is an integral factor of the UDF while Opposition leader V D Satheeshan said if the strategy is to aim the League, it will not work.
That does not mean the CPM is to retract. Even as CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the League has not been invited to the LDF, he also clarified that the doors are not closed before anyone.
League and Congress - the dissonance in ties
The CPM is trying to make use of the disappointment and confusion within the Muslim League following the LDF’s second consecutive term of governance. The power partnership drifting away from the party has upset the League.
Though the League has no rift with the Congress, there have been dissonances in the relation with the leadership. The responses to KPCC president Sudhakaran’s recent remarks revealed the same. The League was about to be at loggerheads in the name of the debate in the Parliament over the unified civil code, yesterday. Govindan is trying to make use of the situation to weaken the UDF.
League and the discord within the CPM
Though Govindan stated that League is not a communal party, the analysis of the discord within the CPM in connection with the League does not seem pleasing. It was in the name of the League relations that the 12 th Party congress and the state conference prior to that were engrossed in the ‘alternative party line’ (Badal Rekha) discussion.
As minority communalism strengthens majority communalism, both are not needed. This was a strong stand taken by CPM general secretary EMS long back. Then, a faction led by State Secretariat member M V Raghavan opposed EMS’s stand which paved the way for Raghavan’s exit from the party. Though M V Govindan stood with the party eventually, it is known that at one stage, Govindan had sympathised with MVR’s line.
The party considered LDF’s shining victory in 1987, after severing ties with the National League, to be the victory of secularism. Even though waves of discussions on whether the League was needed did not stop thereafter, it took another 25 years to include the INL into the LDF; the reason is continuing debates on whether it is a communal party.
League and the second consecutive term of Governance
The Central Committee itself had assessed earlier that consecutive governance like in Bengal is not possible because the party is not able to gain the support of minorities which constitute 44 per cent of Kerala’s population, always. The CPM has not been ready for discussions over the solution – including the League – after the alternative party line.
Instead, the CPM is currently playing the tactic of attacking and exposing the League, luring a few of them and weakening the League. The party state committee report in March 2018 opined that the League has lost its integrity as a party. The last State conference at Ernakulam had also evaluated that political discord is brewing up within the League.
Govindan gave a ‘non-communal certificate’ to the League which the CPM thinks is reeling under internal issues. The CPM is to observe the changes it could instil within the League.
The CPI would only yerk any offers made to the League. As the Party Congresses have debated over the ‘communal colour’ of the League, the national leadership is to clarify whether it approves of Polit Bureau member M V Govindan’s new statement as such.
UDF’s integral part
Muslim League is an integral part of the UDF. The party aims to strengthen the Front. It is not just M V Govindan’s opinion, but also the public’s opinion that League is not a communal party. That is not considered an invitation to join the LDF.
Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, Muslim League state president.
Not invited to the LDF
I have not invited the Muslim League to the LDF. I have only welcomed the stands the League had taken. Nevertheless, the LDF has not closed the doors before anyone. We would welcome those who correct their right-ist ideology and stand and come. It was the Muslim League which corrected the Congress’s stand on Vizhinjam and Governor rows.
The League adopted a secular stand in the Governor’s saffronisation and the moves to communalise the Vizhinjam protest. The approach towards the parties is based on their principles and stands.
