Kerala is yet again emerging as the fulcrum of anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitations in the country with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala deciding to work together to express the State’s resolve to fight the Centre’s stance on the issue.
Notwithstanding the dissension in the Congress as well as the United Democratic Front on joining hands with the Government, Mr. Chennithala and other leaders came forward to offer their creative inputs for taking forward the movement and that has set the ground for similar protests across the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party State leadership that had been on the back foot so far in putting up a strong defence against the protests too came out openly and raised its objections at the all-party meeting organised by the Government on Sunday.
The BJP leadership that had been in a state of perplexity over firming up its plans to stave off the campaign of the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front, seems to have been stirred up by a notion that it was losing its ground to the bipartisan strategy being played out by its rivals.
Human chain
But the Government decision to take the lead in organising the protests jointly and the LDF decision to organise a sustained campaign culminating in a human chain on January 26 seem to have gone down well the the minority communities that were in consternation following the legislation of the Act.
The LDF invitation for all parties to join the human chain has prompted others to swing into action either by joining the movement or charting their own course. Once the main parties took the lead role, it deprived space for fundamentalist outfits to spew vitriol and incite violence in the guise of protests and it became imperative for the organisers to conduct such demonstrations in a peaceful manner.
Though the UDF has decided to track its own course and go ahead with its programmes, the decision taken at Sunday’s meeting to entrust both Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Chennithala to work in consultations for firming up the agitation plans is expected to lend more verve and strength to the movement.
