Angered by the steadfast refusal of the UDF Government to mend its minority appeasement policy, the NSS and the SNDP have decided to take the next step towards ‘unity of the majority communities’. The decision came following a meeting between the general secretaries of the NSS and the SNDP G Sukumaran Nair and Vellappally Natesan at the NSS headquarters the other day.

A measure of their sense of indignation at the UDF Government’s indifference to the problems of the majority communities can be gauged from the summary rejection of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Ramesh Chennithala’s offer of talks to address their concerns. An angry Nair said neither the Congress nor the government headed by it was capable of solving the problems faced by the majority communities.

The decision of the two community organizations denotes a hardening of their stance which bodies ill for the UDF Government. That the decision has come with the Lok Sabha elections less than a year away is highly significant.

The import of their message is unmistakable: if you persist in your minority appeasement policy to the detriment of the majority communities, then the consequences both in political and electoral terms would be disastrous. The NSS has gone to the extent of declaring that without the support of the organisation and the SNDP, no candidate can hope to win an election from the state!

There is no denying the grave implications the move has for the Congress and the UDF Government. In electoral terms, the withdrawal of their support could affect the chances of UDF candidates in a large number of constituencies, especially in south Kerala and central Kerala.

It is difficult to say who will benefit from the decision of the two community outfits. The Left parties hope to cash in on the resentment of both the organizations to their advantage. But it remains to be seen whether the votes of the Nairs who constitute 18 percent of the electorate and Ezhavas who account for 20 percent of the voters will swing decisively in the LDF’s favour.

If the Neyyattinkara by-election experience is any guide, then the BJP would be the beneficiary of the NSS and the SNDP anger. In Neyyattinkara BJP candidate O Rajagopal managed to secure a six-fold rise in the BJP’s vote share. As against 6,000 odd votes, the BJP managed to poll an astounding 30,000 odd votes at Neyyattinkara.If that trend is repeated at the state level, then that certainly augurs ill for both the UDF and the LDF.

The move has, predictably, evoked strong reaction from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the Congress in the UDF Government. The IUML has rebutted the criticism that the minorities have been cornering all benefits at the cost of the majority community. Such criticism will make for communal polarization with unpredictable consequences for the state’s secular fabric, warned the IUML leaders.

But the NSS and SNDP leaders reject the IUML criticism. The two organizations deny that their move will accelerate communal polarization. “We are not against the legitimate rights of other communities, including the minorities. But we cannot be a silent spectator if the rights of the majority community were trampled upon by any other sections,” the NSS and SNDP leaders warned. And both Sukumaran Nair and Natesan have couched their warning in careful language. They have scrupulously avoided mentioning that their strategy is aimed at Hindu consolidation. What they are striving to achieve is the unity of the majority community, which is languishing under the callous neglect of the Oommen Chandy Government.(IPA Service)