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Both the RSS and PFI claim to be non-political actors involved in community service, relief and welfare, and nation building. They mostly influence politics from the shadows. Two political murders in Palakkad in the last week have sharpened communal faultlines in Kerala. The killing of an activist of the Populist Front of India (PFI), allegedly by members of the RSS, and the subsequent murder of an RSS functionary, allegedly by members of the PFI, have threatened to deepen the divide between religious groups. In this backdrop, senior CPM leader and state minister, M V Govindan’s, remark comparing majority and minority fundamentalisms is unwise and unwarranted. The government needs to bring those responsible for the heinous violence to book, irrespective of who cast the first, or larger, stone. The chief minister, who also holds the home portfolio, must send out the unambiguous message that no organisation, whether it claims to represent the majority or the minority, will be allowed to disrupt the rule of law and expect impunity in the aftermath.
Both the RSS and PFI claim to be non-political actors involved in community service, relief and welfare, and nation building. They mostly influence politics from the shadows. This way, they also escape the public scrutiny that political parties are routinely subjected to. For the law enforcement machinery, however, it should not matter whether those accused of crime are political actors or belong to social organisations. The police needs to be, and needs to be seen to be insulated from political interference.
Recent events have underlined that politics in Kerala, despite the apparent consensus in the mainstream against disturbing communal harmony and for articulating concerns in a secular idiom, is looking increasingly vulnerable to the pull and tug of communal undercurrents. Political parties seem all too willing to patronise communal interest groups, and sometimes, even criminals, to polarise the electorate. The recent campaigns against love jihad — the latest instance is of a former CPM MLA speaking out against an inter-faith marriage involving a local party leader — and the framing of economic distress in communal terms seem to have the tacit acceptance and backing of the political mainstream. Parties need to isolate the forces that seek to reimagine Kerala in communal terms. The spirit of fraternity and inclusion that was last seen in the state during the 2018 floods needs to be revived and restored.
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