The failure of the Congress high command to field even one candidate from the minority communities has evoked strong criticism from the leaders of the community.
While former Congress MLA and MP Peter Alphonse said the Congress had alienated the minorities in the State by denying them a seat, former IAS officer M.G. Devasahayam said the party’s leadership failed to respect the letters of four Bishops from Kanniyakumari urging the party to field a Christian candidate.
The four Bishops from Kanniyakumari district had written to Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik to field a Catholic candidate. In Kanniyakumari, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA H. Vasanth Kumar.
Fair representation
“Muslims and Christians together constitute 18% of the voters and they are the core vote bank of the Congress. It is unfortunate that the traditional voters of the Congress have not been given a representation even in Kanniyakumari constituency,” Mr. Devasahayam told The Hindu .
Mr. Alphonse said in the election committee meeting of the party he made a strong case for allotting one seat either for a Muslim or a Christian candidate, since the Bishops had requested him to place their expectation before the Congress leadership.
“When I expressed my desire to contest from Tirunelveli constituency, the high command told me that the party could not demand two seats for Christians, since it had already decided to field a Christian in Kanniyakumari. So I opted out of the race. Now, we find that even Kanniyakumari has not been allotted to anyone from the minority community,” he said, adding that he would take up the issue with AICC president Rahul Gandhi after the elections.
‘Predatory policies’
In a letter to Mr. Wasnik, the Bishops from Kanniyakumari district — Kottar, Kuzhithuri, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara — said 47 % of the population of Kanniyakumari were Christians and were facing an existential crisis because of “predatory policies and projects” being projected by the sitting MP and Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan.
As there was no response from Mr. Wasnik, Mr. Devasahyam wrote another letter to him to field a Catholic candidate since they had 4,50,000 votes and there was polarisation among Hindu voters.
“The majority among the Catholics is the vulnerable fishermen group, and they need an entrepreneurial development model, which is small, cottage and household-based as advocated by Mr. Gandhi during his campaign in Nagercoil,” Mr. Devasahayam said.
