The United Democratic Front (UDF)’s big ticket convention and its political document represents a revival script for the Opposition coalition that has been struggling to get over its blues following the massive drubbing it got in the Assembly elections eight months ago.
This is the first time ever that such a massive gathering has been convened under the banner of the UDF in the last 40 years that it has been in existence. It is perhaps for the first time that it has come out with a political document and an agenda of agitations that, coalition mangers believe, will enable it to recapture its lost voter base.
The political document attempts at pillory the CPI(M) and the BJP for their attempts to communally divide society on the strength of the Assembly election outcome. But it also appears to be a tacit acknowledgement that the CPI(M) and the BJP pipped it to the post in attracting a segment of minority and majority community votes respectively.
The coalition leaders made all necessary spade work to project a picture of unity of purpose, as could be seen from the participation of all front line leaders of the UDF constituents. The political document, which was passed in the form of a resolution at the convention, also lists out the various instances where the BJP and the CPI(M) are deliberately trying to divide the polity though its organised violence.
While the BJP taking shelter under its status as the ruling national party, the CPI(M) was using the shade of a ruling State party to promote divisive politics. The former was projecting itself as a saviour of majority communities and the latter as the protector of minority communities, the resolution said.
The unwritten part of the convention is that the UDF will go all out to retain its prime position in Kerala’s coalition system and will resist attempts of the CPI(M) and the BJP to monopolise space among themselves. It will continue to tread the midland of secular politics, the resolution says.
According to senior UDF leaders, the best way to achieve this is to forge a series of agitations against the Central and State government’s policies that uniformly affected the common man, whether it was demonetisation or disruption of ration supply. Their reading is that the UDF can regain confidence if it is a united political force and the mounting discontent against the ruling LDF government over a horde of issues within eight months in office will provide it the appropriate platform.
