The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam is prepared to join hands with neglected sections of society to gain political power and ensure social justice, Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan said here on Friday.
Delivering the inaugural address at a massive public gathering held on the Sanghumukham beach as part of the Travancore Ezhava Mahasangamam, he said the Yogam was prepared to go to any end to put an end to the neglect of the Ezhava community at the hands of the powers that be.
Holding out a threat to the ruling UDF in Kerala, he said the coalition would find itself out of power in the State after the Parliament elections if it went ahead with its policy of appeasing certain communities at the expense of others. Some sections in Kerala were denied their legitimate rights over the years. “Instead of ensuring them these rights, the ruling class has resorted to the policy of herding them into colonies.” He said the widening gap between the haves and have nots was responsible for the rise of the Maoist movement.
Mr. Natesan said certain communities were using their organisational strength to appropriate disproportionate political power and social benefits. Pointing out that only 14 out of the 140 MLAs in the Kerala Assembly were from the Ezhava community, he said, “both the Left and right political outfits have cheated us for long. They consider us an expendable commodity. We will not put up with this any longer.”
Hits out at NSSMr. Natesan also hit out hard at the NSS leadership for sabotaging the NSS- SNDP unity. Citing the NSS stand on the constitution of the special recruitment board for devaswoms and the call for 18 per cent reservation for the economically backward among forward communities from the Hindus, he alleged that NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair was singularly responsible for letting down the unity bid.
The NSS leadership today, he said, lacked the vision and outlook of its founder Mannath Padmanabhan who led the Vaikom Satyagraha against untouchability in Hindu society. However, he said, the unity bid will not come down crashing just because of one person’s stand.
Mr. Natesan stopped short of declaring the formation of a political outfit of the SNDP Yogam, something that was being debated in political circles in the run up to the rally. But Yogam vice president Thushar Vellappally was more forthcoming in his speech. Asserting that the SNDP Yogam was capable of making a political party stronger than any of the existing ones in Kerala, he said such an organisation had become necessary to demonstrate the might of the Ezhava community and overcome the neglect in education sector, recruitment to jobs, land rights and political power.
