Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said certain social organisations have brazenly and illegally appealed to the electorate’s baser instincts of caste and religion to garner votes for the United Democratic Front (UDF) during the campaign for Assembly byelections in five constituencies scattered across Kerala.
Speaking at a meet-the-press here, Mr Balakrishnan said the voters had felt intense attempts to divide them on caste lines in at least three constituencies. He did not identify the constituencies but slammed the Nair Service Society (NSS) for working against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in Vattiyurkavu. The NSS, a social organisation with a storied past of fighting for progressive values, had crossed the limits by persuading its members to place caste first when exercising their right to franchise.
The prejudiced stance of the NSS leadership has triggered dissent within the organisation’s fold. It has also caused much revulsion in public. The CPI(M) had no quarrel with the NSS. Ideally, the NSS should form a party as it did in the early 1970s if it wanted to indulge in politics, he said.
Mr Balakrishnan said NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair had a UDF past. He had held positions in the UDF as a leader of the NSS-backed and now-defunct National Democratic Party (NDP).
He said the CPI(M) had no particular affinity towards the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam. Its general secretary Vellappally Natesan had averred that only a Hindu would win in the Aroor constituency. The LDF did not field a Hindu there, he said.
The NSS and the SNDP had their political say. However, actively seeking votes on caste and communal lines was an electoral offence and did not augur well for a secular society, he said.
