Pinarayi stokes Jamaat, Gaza, Iran, Israel in Nilambur; Left voters say it's pension that matters

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Nilambur: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, campaigning in Nilambur, sought to drive a wedge between the Congress and the Muslim League over Jamaat-e-Islami's support for the UDF. He invoked Israel's bombing of Gaza and Iran, and India's continued support for Israel's aggression to bolster his pitch. However, several Left supporters said their vote for CPM candidate M Swaraj was driven by gratitude for the LDF government's welfare pension.
Speaking at Pothukallu, Swaraj's home panchayat, on Sunday, Vijayan said the UDF was hobnobbing with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a hardline Islamic group, because of the negative vibes it was getting from the constituency. "But we are not unfamiliar with Jamaat-e-Islami. It cannot take society along. Even Muslim organisations stay away from it," said the Chief Minister.
When Jamaat-e-Islami launched 'Madhyamam' newspaper (in 1987) and news channel Media One (in 2013) to spread its ideology, it invited many leaders who were not aligned with it. The then Muslim League chief Sayed Muhammed Ali Shihab Thangal and Panakkad Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal were among those invited to the two events, respectively. But they did not attend the events as part of the Muslim League's stated policy, said Vijayan. "What has changed now in Jamaat-e-Islami for it to become acceptable," the chief minister asked.
In the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir election, the BJP wanted to defeat CPM's M Y Tarigami in Kulgam constituency, he said. "To help BJP, Jamaat-e-Islami fielded a candidate and brought all its workers to campaign. But people elected Tarigami," he said. "How can the Muslim League accept such a party!"
But Pinarayi Vijayan did not let the Muslim League off the hook. "The Congress cannot accept Jamaat-e-Islami's support with the Muslim League's knowledge," he said. "The LDF does not want the support or blessings of communal and divisive forces," he said.
The Chief Minister also criticised the BJP-led Union government for staying silent on what he called Israel’s “disgraceful” attack on Iran, and for abstaining from a United Nations General Assembly vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza -- six months after it had supported a similar resolution.
He said India once had global support not because of its economic strength, but because of the principled positions it took on international issues.
When Onmanorama spoke to Left supporters gathered opposite the Pothukallu bus stand to hear Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, they dismissed the idea that Jamaat-e-Islami held any real sway in Nilambur. What mattered more to them, they said, were the welfare pensions and development that touched their lives.
Basheer, a 74-year-old former loading worker, said he didn’t want the UDF to return to power because he feared it would stop the welfare pension. "When the UDF left, I was getting only Rs 600 and even that wasn’t regular. Now I get Rs 1,600," he said.
Sindhu, a 48-year-old rubber tapping worker from Chembankolly in Chungathara panchayat, said her day started at 4 am and she judged governments by how they treated people like her. "I'm happy with the LDF government. It gave my mother a pension regularly and also sanctioned funds to repair her house. That’s what matters to me," she said when asked about the controversy surrounding Jamaat-e-Islami.
Reji, another tapping worker from Pothukallu panchayat, said the LDF government started a welfare fund for rubber tappers. "The hill highway passes through most Nilambur panchayats," he said. "Now they’ve tendered a bypass from Uppada to Chembankolly. It'll make our lives easier.”
Then he added, "We talk about Israel, Gaza and Iran at our junction."
They are all CPM supporters, but for them, politics is ultimately about decisions that affect their lives -- and Pinarayi Vijayan made sure to highlight his welfare initiatives, too, at all three of his Sunday pit stops: Pothukallu, Amarambalam and Karulai.