All set for no-holds barred battle

By K. M. Tampi

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 3. The desperation of the two political combinations and the BJP gives an edge to the electoral battle in the State this time.

The first real threat to the Left Front in West Bengal provided by the combination led by the Trinamool Congress has made the ruling Left Democratic Front headed by the CPI(M) desperate in Kerala. If the worst happens and it is forced to surrender its eastern bastion to rivals, control over at least Kerala is of cardinal importance to the CPI(M).

Staying out of power for five long years is a tough proposition for not only the Congress, which steers the United Democratic Front, but also some of its constituents such as the Muslim League and the Kerala Congress groups. In the past when the coalition experiment was in its infancy and ministries lasted only for one or two years, everybody got a fling at power. The dramatic change in the situation has made a return to power an absolute necessity for the very existence of the UDF.

The BJP has been pleading with, imploring, threatening, pushing, pulling and cajoling the voters for several years to give it a break. But the electorate, which accepted the party in the local bodies, is yet to give it a try at the Assembly and Parliament levels. The BJP has reached the limits of its patience and is bent on getting a toe-hold if not a foothold in the Assembly by hook or by crook this time.

Self-inflicted punishment

The actions and pronouncements of the three combinations have given enough indications of their desperation. When the parties led by the CPI(M) underwent a self-inflicted punishment by fire for their past association with ``communal forces'' and re- emerged as the LDF from the ashes in the late 1970s, any truck with even remotely communal sounding elements was the last thing on their mind. But they had to drop the resolve soon to accommodate the Kerala Congress (Joseph), mainly representing the Christian community especially the high range farmers among them. The party's critics claim that the leaders of the Kerala Congress(J) had to denounce the Church and undergo a long quarantine before being admitted into the LDF. But any association between the LDF and a party representing the Muslims was unthinkable even after that. The understanding which the LDF reached with the INL, which represents the Muslim community, around the time the drum-beats for the coming election began is a clear sign of its desperation to secure whatever Muslim votes it can.

The conflicting pronouncements being made by the leaders of the CPI(M) on the status of the INL and its relationship with the LDF show that a section of the party has not been able to and will not digest the arrangement. The critics of the CPI(M) and the LDF argue that by associating with a party which represents the Christians and another which works for the interests of the Muslims, they have shed their secular image and gone back to the pre-LDF days when votes were what mattered.

The Congress could not afford to go in for any communal purge because the UDF contained the three groups of the Kerala Congress and the Muslim League.

It did not consider a purge necessary either because it projected these parties as symbols of secularism. In the past, neither the Congress nor its constituents, in their wildest dreams, could not think of associating with the PDP, another party which represents Muslim interests. It was the Muslim League's objection to the UDF allying cooperating with a party which might one day, however distant in the future, pose a threat to its influence on the Muslim community more than the PDP's extremist and militant stand, which stood in the way.

This time, the same Muslim League has taken the initiative to hammer out an understanding between the UDF and the PDP. Prominent Muslim League leaders even said the PDP's bid to join the mainstream should be encouraged. The party has dismissed as meaningless the claim that it was part of a desperate move to split the INL's vote bank and bring part of it to the UDF's kitty.

BJP has no delusions

In the meantime, the BJP is asserting that the new Assembly will be a hung one and whoever wants to form the Government will require its help. It has no delusions of coming out first or even second and seems content with securing the all important third place. Its warning to implement a secret programme if there is any deliberate bid as in the past to defeat its leaders, its failure to field candidates against the UDF in some constituencies and the unconfirmed reports on the secret talks its top leaders held with the CPI(M) have complicated matters.

The campaign is gathering speed, the national leaders are trying to put it into top gear and the scene seems set for a desperate, no-holds-barred fight to the finish.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : State Elections
Previous : Insurgency is voters' main concern
Next     : Unconditional support acceptable: Ahmed