Backed into a corner, Congress in Kerala rejects SDPI support for Lok Sabha elections

On Monday, the SDPI had come out in support of the UDF saying that there was “a strong political sentiment” against the BJP at the national level and that the Congress was the countervailing force. “Hence, we have decided to support the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections,” SDPI president Muvattupuzha Ashraf Moulavi said. “The Congress’s stand favouring a caste census also influenced our decision to back the party in Kerala,” he added.

With neither the Congress nor the UDF leadership outrightly rejecting the SDPI’s offer, it opened the party up to attacks from the CPI(M) and the BJP. Both parties alleged that Congress had entered an alliance with extremist forces in the state.

“The PFI is an organisation which is engaged in killing Hindus and Christians in the country. The party has been involved in several riots. The UDF is taking the support of religious extremists in Kerala, including Wayanad, where Rahul (Gandhi) is contesting,” BJP state president K Surendran, who is the party candidate from Wayanad, had said on Tuesday, demanding that Gandhi make his stand clear on the SDPI.

The Congress was also wary of accepting SDPI’s support as it feared it would antagonise its traditional Christian vote bank in the state.

Within the UDF too, its main ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), has traditionally been against SDPI support as several Muslim religious organisations close to the League have been not keen on the politics of the SDPI and its mother outfit, PFI.

The ban on the PFI, imposed by the BJP government at the Centre, is one of the talking points of the Congress’s campaign in Kerala. The Lok Sabha elections in the state will be held on April 26.