Communal discourse in run-up to Kerala elections

The election season is here and political parties in Kerala have expectedly turned up the volume on their toxic talk. The political discourse in the state, as it moves closer to the Assembly elections, is taking an unmistakably communal tone. That’s a worrying trend in a state that took pride in its secular politics. No party is an exception here, and everyone is a willing participant.

In their scramble to win votes and grab power, the parties have turned the air unnecessarily caustic, the effects of which will linger long after the election dust is settled. Surprisingly, it was the ruling CPM that set the tone for the new political narrative by seeking to paint the opposition UDF in communal colours, pointing out the latter’s truck with the Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Welfare Party in the recent local body election. The new CPM boss in Kerala, A Vijayaraghavan, then sought to repeatedly underscore the religious base of the Muslim League, a key UDF partner. The intention was clear.

It wanted to woo back the Hindu voters alienated by the Left Front government’s Sabarimala fiasco and make further inroads into the sizeable Christian vote bank. The UDF hit back in force, accusing the CPM of playing the communal card in desperation, but it itself had no qualms about attempting to revive the sensitive Sabarimala issue. Add to that Congress leader K Sudhakaran’s caste slur against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the UDF is certainly doing its bit to further the acrimony.

The BJP, on its part, is actively wooing the Christian communities, putting into action its game plan of pitting one minority community against the other. It is one thing to consider religious equations and come up with strategies to woo communities at the time of elections, but quite another to pursue an openly communal line in an attempt to polarise voters and reap the ill-gotten benefits.

These methods will render the idea of a free and fair election irrelevant. Whatever be the motive, parties must desist from strategies that violate the sanctity of the impending democratic exercise. A course correction is imperative to restore sanity in Kerala’s political discourse.