Caste religion override political issues in Kerala

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Kerala is considered as the most politically enlightened state in india but caste and religion override political issues in many of the 20 lok sabha constituencies in the state that goes to polls on april 10

Religion is the most dominant factor in the muslim-dominated malappuram and ponnani and ernakulam and idukki which have a strong christian presence. while the first two have never preferred a non-muslim candidate idukki has elected only christian candidates and ernakulam voted for a non-christian candidate only once since 1977.

It’s either hindu or christian in constituencies where the two communities have equal presence. trichur and kottayam are glaring examples of sharp communal divide. trichur where christians account for 21 per cent muslims 19 per cent and hindus 41 per cent of the total electorate gave equal chance to christian and hindu candidates in ten elections since 1977.

Kottayam with a christian population of 30 per cent favoured christians seven times in 13 elections held since 1957. the hindus who accounts for 39 per cent of the population had their representatives elected to lok sabha six times. muvattupuzha which ceased to exist in 2009 following merger of most part of it with the christian dominated constituency with chalakkudy kottayam idukki and pathanamthitta also never gave a chance to non-christians from 1977 to 2004.

Similarly quilon and palghat where the minorities are below 32 per cent always preferred hindu candidates. the hindu population in quilon is 46 per cent and palghat 44 per cent. in addition to this the two constituencies have also sizeable population of scheduled castes and tribes. though minorities constitute nearly 43 per cent of the electorate in kasargod the constituency always preferred hindu candidates since 1977. however nearby kannur with a minority strength of 49 per cent gave chance to a muslim candidate twice in the last 10 elections.

Aleppey with a christian electorate of nearly 19 per cent and muslim 11 per cent gave christian candidates chance only twice since 1977. ottapalam and adoor never got a chance to vote for a minority candidate since they are reserved constituencies. though the hindus dominate trivandrum the constituency has voted a christian candidate four times as against the victory of hindu candidate six times. the christian candidate elected from the capital city always belonged to the nadar community.

All the major political parties have carefully chosen candidates to suit the caste and religious preferences of each constituency. the communist party of india (marxist)-led opposition left democratic front which has failed to make any inroads into the christian and muslim belts so far has fielded prominent members of the communities there this time. while some of them have no special political leanings others have been imported from the rival united democratic front. most of them are contesting the election as independents backed by the ldf. to suit the latin catholic bias of ernakulam the cpm has fielded christy fernandez a former ias officer with no political experience.

In idukki another constituency with a strong bias for christian candidates the party is backing joyce george. similarly in another pro-christian pathanamathitta constituency the party is backing a congress rebel belonging to the christian community. the party also found a congress rebel belonging to the muslim community in ponnani that never elected a non-muslim candidate. the cpm has fielded its prominent muslim women leader p.k. sainaba at nearby malappuram.

The communist party of india the second largest constituent of the ldf has also gone for a member of the nadar community dr bennet abraham to cash in on the division of nair votes among shashi tharoor of the congress and o. rajagopal of the bharatiya janata party.

The candidate line-up in the udf camp is also no different. the congress has tried to pamper to the communities by fielding candidates acceptable to them. in idukki it replaced p.t. thomas who earned the wrath of the church by taking a principled stand on the environmental issue with a candidate more acceptable to the church.

Even the bjp which professes hindutva is not free from the clutches of caste and religion. the party has fielded christian candidates in idukki and kottayam. the two dominant fronts have fielded more candidates belonging to the minority communities to cash in on the perceived minority consolidation against bjp’s prime ministerial candidate narendra modi. political observers say this would benefit the congress more this time since the electorate is sceptical about the chances of the left parties are in no position to form a government at the centre.

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