By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kollam/Malappuram: The decision of independent MLA Manjalamkuzhi to cut ties with the CPI (M) and to resign his MLA post has created a new head-ache for the party. While many senior leaders such as the party general secretary and state ministers responded to Ali’s decision harshly, Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan yesterday asked Ali to change his decision. However, Ali replied that he was not willing to make any change and that he would continue with his decision to resign the MLA post.
The decision of Manjalamkuzhi Ali was unfavourable and Ali should be ready to change it, said Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan yesterday in Kollam. Ali had contributed a lot to the organisation, though he was not a member of the party. His works have been helpful in giving a big blow to the Congress and the Muslim League in Malappuram. Ali’s help has been good to the party. But his present stand is weakening to the left parties and helping the UDF. This makes undone all the good deeds that he had done, he added. He was speaking at a programme organized by the Kollam Press Club.
VS said that he did not consider much Ali’s view that he had to face problems because of his close relations with the former. He added that he did not criticize Ali for such thoughts. Mr Achuthanandan rejected the analysis that leaders from minority communities were leaving the party. All cannot be made MLA or MP. Decisions are made by the party according to the specific circumstances in each time, he reminded.
Manjalamkuzhi Ali stated that there was no change in his decision to resign his MLA post. He was responding to the query of media persons regarding the statement of VS. Meanwhile, Ali will hold a meeting explaining his politics on October 17 (Sunday) at 4 pm. Ali is expected to speak about his political career as well as the circumstances that led to the resignation. MP Veerendrakumar will deliver the chief address.
Ali, who had represented the Mankada constituency in Malappuram in the Assembly as an independent supported by the CPI (M), decided to cut all ties with the party reportedly out of ‘insults from the party leaders’. He announced his decision to resign his MLA post as well as several other posts on October 11 in a press conference held at his house in Malappuram. He also made it clear that he was not joining any party, but rather would continue his social work as an independent.
A sign of minorities leaving the CPI (M)?
The decision of Ali to leave the CPI (M) is seen as the latest among the bidding farewell of several leaders in the party belonging to the minority communities. The trend was begun by AP Abdullakkutty, former MP of Kannur, who rose to heights in the party through the SFI and the DYFI. He left the party following his controversial praise of the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Next was the turn of Dr KS Manoj who had defeated senior Congress leader VM Sudheeran in Alappuzha. The decision of some leaders to leave the party gradually led to the departure of other political parties from the LDF. MP Veerendrakumar left his own party Janata Dal (S) and the LDF and is now in the UDF with a new party. The Indian National League which has been with the LDF since its formation has now left it for good as the LDF was not ready to take the party into the alliance even after 14 years of cooperation. INL is now with the UDF, though a group chose to continue with the LDF namely INL (Secular). The People’s Democratic Party had helped the LDF in the last Parliamentary elections. But the party gradually went away from the front after the elections and the gap increased very badly by the arrest of the party chairman Abdunnasir Maudany by the Karnataka police with the help of the Kerala police. Now the PDP is contesting the local body elections alone, without making alliance with any party. The Jamat e Islami had supported the LDF in the last Assembly and Parliament elections. But the organisation has gone too far away from the LDF and it is contesting the local body elections under the banner of the Janakeeya Vikasana Munnani.
The departure of the Kerala Congress (Joseph group) was a big blow to the LDF as it meant a large erosion of the Christian votes. It was also helpful for the UDF as the party merged itself in the Kerala Congress (Mani group), thus making the party the second biggest party of the alliance in the Assembly. There were also reports of pastoral letters being read out in the churches warning the believers not to vote for the communists and atheists. If all this meant the loss of Christian votes, the loss of Muslim votes was revealed by the departure of the INL and estrangement of the PDP and the Jamat e Islami from the LDF. The recent policies followed by the CPI (M) appeasing the Hindutva forces can also be read along with this. The Chief Minister and Home minister had made remarks which were seemingly anti-Muslim during the controversy following the hand-chopping incident.
The party which had once been the hope of the labourers and working class as well as the downtrodden Dalit sections is now apparently estranged from all them. The leftist parties are losing support of these traditional vote-banks. At the same time, the UDF which is said as rightist is now gaining the support of some of these sections. As Ali said, the left has become more right and the right has become more left in Kerala.