Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The BJP's state vice president in Kerala has signalled that it was willing to work with the Indian Union Muslim League, the second major ally in the opposition United Democratic Front.
Shoba Surendran said in a statement the Muslim League could be welcomed to the NDA if it can shed its communal colours and approve of 'nationalism'.
If the League is ready for second thoughts, it would be beneficial for its leaders. Such a decision could naturally be made once the party embraces nationalism, she said.
As she publicly reiterated her stance in BJP’s Vijaya Yathra, a statewide election rally led by K Surendran, BJP state president, the BJP’s state leadership has been left in a catch 22 situation.
On day one, K Surendran and Union Minister V Muralidharan denied the League’s NDA entry. Surendran and Muralidharan have refuted the idea and said that welcoming the League to the NDA cannot be even thought of. With this, media reports came up pointing to another point of contention within the BJP State leadership.
BJP state leadership had said the IUML was the party that led to India’s partition and it publicly supports the Welfare Party, a political arm of the religious outfit Jamaat e Islami.
Later, Surendran had to do a balancing act. He said, on realising the implications and political repercussions of contradicting statements from the BJP leaders, that if the IUML sheds its ‘communal nature’, the BJP is ready to accept it.
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In fact, Shobha Surendran seems to have had an intention behind her statement. She has been vexed that she is being sidelined by V Muralidharan and K Surendran ever since the latter took charge as the State BJP president.
Shobha Surendran has been complaining that her position in the party as a senior general secretary has been downgraded to that of one of the 10 vice presidents. In protest, Shobha has been staying away from active politics for the past several months and has not shared a stage with the BJP state leadership until recently.
It is after BJP national president J P Nadda’s Kerala visit in January as part of the election preparations that Shobha Surendran started showing up in the BJP stages and programmes actively. Even then, Surendran- Muralidharan group were not ready to join hands with Shobha.
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Shobha then decided to move forward with her programmes at the party in her own capacity, visibly detached from Surendran and Muralidharan.
Shobha reached the venue of protest by the Thiruvananthapuram Public Service Commission rank holders. Marking her solidarity to the protestors, Shobha staged a 48 hour fast.
The political analysts consider the controversial statement on the IUML joining the NDA was also made by Shobha in such a manner.
The BJP foundation and vote bank in Kerala is based on an anti-Muslim sentiment bordering on hatred.
Muslims, who are a minority, is a strong vote bank in Kerala. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar have been trying to develop their base alleging that the CPM and the Congress have always neglected the majority Hindus and tried to please the minority Muslims.
The BJP has been criticising the Congress, every time the latter was in power in Kerala, for pleasing and favouring the League which is a main ally in the UDF. The communities that are the majority in Kerala have also supported this allegation.
The statement that the BJP in Kerala, built by working over an anti-Muslim sentiment, welcomes the IUML into their alliance, cannot be easily digested by the BJP State leadership.
The Sangh Parivar outfits are also apprehensive about this idea as that could cause cracks in the foundation. The leadership feel that their grass root workers and supporters may think that the BJP is no different from the Congress and the CPM inviting the League for the sake of gaining power.
This is why Shobha Surendran’s statements welcoming the IUML to NDA has clearly left the leadership in a catch 22 situation in Kerala.
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Muslims form the second largest part of the populace in Kerala after the Hindus. Christian population comes third.
Hence, no one sees any political significance in Shobha Surendran’s invitation. However, the BJP national leadership’s reaction to this invitation would be interesting.
The speeches and statements of the party’s national leaders who reach Kerala as part of election campaigns are filled with criticisms against the Muslim appeasement by both the Left Front and the UDF in Kerala. In this scenario, it could be suicidal for the BJP to consider taking the IUML into the NDA. The Congress leadership ignored Shobha’s statement without even reacting to it.
Senior IUML leader and Muslim League national general secretary P K Kunhalikkutty scorned Shobha’s invitation. Kunhalikkutty said the BJP is not yet ready to invite the Muslim League. League is a purely secular party. No party has reached a level to fight the BJP so far. We are proud to remain in an alliance with the Congress, Kunhalikkutty said.
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BJP’s political statements were in the lines that it was better to have invited the LDF to NDA rather than inviting the League, as the CPM is reacting in the BJP’s voice anyway.
The ‘strong bonding’ between the Muslim League and the Congress in Kerala dates back to 1980. Muslim League has the tradition of remaining with the Congress and foiling the plans of the Muslim fundamentalists who were armed to the teeth to kindle Muslim extremism following the Babri Masjid attack in 1992. Considering all these, an association with the BJP is beyond thoughts for the Muslim League.
It is for sure that the political arena in Kerala would treat Shobha’s invitation as nothing more than a desperate attempt by a BJP leader to secure and strengthen her position within the party due to the conflicts within.
It is also to be noted that the front line leaders of the CPM have not made any comments on Shobha’s statement.
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