Thiruvananthapuram: The joint protest by Kerala’s ruling LDF and opposition UDF against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the showpiece event that attracted nationwide attention as an exemplary demonstration of unity against the undemocratic legislation, has turned sour with a section of the Congress party and UDF voicing strong disapproval.
State Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran has clarified that there is no scope for any joint action with the CPI-M, accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of adopting a soft Hindutva line.
The highlight of the half-day joint satyagraha at the Martyrs’ Square in the state capital was the show of camaraderie between the chief minister and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. The event was featured on prime time news shows on all national television channels as well as prominence in print media.
The KPCC president had, however, skipped the event as did the RSP leaders, citing lack of coordination within the UDF, which the opposition leader attributed to shortage of time. There have already been murmurs in the opposition camp about the propriety of working together with the government.
Mullappally Ramachandran has since hardened his stance and ruled out any truck with the ruling front in future, saying that only Congress has the track record of fighting fascist forces nationally. He also questioned the CPI-M’s love for minorities as a farce and with an eye on the vote bank.
He accused the Kerala CPI-M leaders of frustrating Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to forge anti-fascist unity during the Lok Sabha elections by opposing the coming together of secular and democratic forces at the national level.
Ramachandran poo-pooed CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechuri’s protestations in Parliament against the use of unlawful activities law UAPA as draconian while the government led by his party in Kerala had used the same black law to haul up two Muslim youths. The CPI-M and the government are yet to come clean on the offences committed by the young men, he charged.
While on the one hand following a soft line towards RSS and BJP, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was talking about Muslim extremism as the big menace, the state Congress president asserted. Also, most of the victims of CPI-M’s politics of violence in north Malabar were Muslims, he added.
With Ramachandran hardening his position, observers feel that the controversy over the joint protest against the citizens law will likely aggravate the problems in both UDF and Congress in the days to come.
