CPI(M) in Kerala says defections to BJP have enfeebled Congress, eroded public’s trust in Opposition

CPI(M) Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan has said defections to BJP have “enfeebled” the Congress and caused the public’s trust in the Opposition party in Kerala to plummet steeply

CPI(M) Kerala State secretary M.V. Govindan has said defections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have “enfeebled” the Congress and caused the public’s trust in the Opposition party in Kerala to plummet steeply.

Addressing a press conference at the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram on March 8 (Friday), Mr. Govindan also made a robust Lok Sabha electoral pitch by portraying the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) as the “sole secular bulwark” against the Sangh Parivar’s alleged attempts to “divide” Kerala into communal lines and turn the State saffron.

Mr. Govindan said a vote for the Congress was tantamount to a referendum for the BJP. He accused the BJP of systematically subverting the Constitution to promote “a vicious brand of extreme Hindu majoritarian nationalism” that sought to relegate minorities, Dalits and backward classes to a subaltern status.

Mr. Govindan said the Congress felt increasingly besieged by the BJP’s recruitment sallies into the United Democratic Front (UDF) fold.

Without naming Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader N.K. Premachandran, Mr. Govindan said the UDF’s candidate in the Kollam Lok Sabha segment had a high-profile tete-a-tete lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The RSP’s MP who shared the same table (with Mr. Modi) is now in the BJP. The UDF candidate has repeatedly paid tributes to Mr. Modi’s politics. So, will he be late to the Sangh Parivar fold if he bags Kollam?” Mr. Govindan asked.

Mr. Govindan attempted to make a strong case that Kerala’s sizeable segment of anti-BJP votes should coalesce into the LDF to preserve the State’s “secular and democratic character.”