The raging row between the church and the communists in Kerala has taken an ugly turn this week with the Catholic clergy in the state giving an open call for a united fight by all God-fearing citizens irrespective of their religion to end the ?ungodly? Marxist rule. Addressing a series of Christian congregations these church leaders have launched a vigorous campaign to expose the alleged anti-minority and anti-people character of the Left Front government. They want the Hindus and the Muslims to join hands with the Christian community to fight the CPM onslaught on the religious faith of the people.
This is the first time?after the famous 1959 Liberation Struggle, in which all the religious groups in the state joined under the Congress umbrella to unseat the repressive EMS Namboodiripad government?that the church has taken such a political confrontation to the streets. The Congress-led United Democratic Front is skillfully stoking the Christian and Muslim resentment against the CPM. The Congress and Muslim League leadership have openly come out in support of the clergy. And the Christian masses are getting increasingly identified with the anti-Left agitation being fomented by these groups.
The Marxists are facing a similar predicament in West Bengal too. The Singur and Nandigram riots were largely the handiwork of the Jamaat-e-Islami and other more fanatic Muslim outfits. Reports from the state suggest that Muslim villagers played a major role in the wide-spread food riots targeting the Marxist-controlled Public Distribution System (PDS). The mishandling by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government of the alleged harassment and murder of a Muslim youth, Rizwan has found the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee leading the Muslim groups demanding a CBI inquiry. The inquiry was instituted only after the Kolkata High Court ordered the same, further confirming the general impression that the local authorities had much to hide.
The political significance of all these developments in the Marxist bastions is too obvious to be ignored. The immediate beneficiary of the Marxist decline in the two states is the Congress, which is sparing no effort to embarrass the CPM.
But a more important aspect of the emerging scenario is the failure of the CPM'sassiduously cultivated strategy to woo the minorities to its fold. By opposing the US invasion of Iraq, US President'sIndia visit, Indo-US nuclear deal, Indian vote against Iran and the alleged insufficient Indian breast beating on Saddam execution; the CPM has been fashioning a communal plank to woo the Indian Muslims to its fold. By befriending the fanatic Madhani, now acquitted in the Coimbatore serial bomb blasts, asking for Muslim support distributing appeals and photographs of such zealots the Marxists managed their victory in the last round of state elections.
In the 2006 Kerala assembly poll a section of the Christian clergy also sided with the Left Front. The party consciously devised a programme to get the Christian support by espousing the religion-based reservations and other benefits on the lines of Sachar and Ranganath Mishra reports. But the tragedy is that feeding on the exclusivist communally divisive demands of these elements to a saturation point is a difficult ball game. There is no end to their greed and appetite, and no government in a democratic, secular polity can satisfy them.
The Left trouble in these states is bound to increase in the coming months. Every section of the society is unhappy with the inept and corrupt administrative style of the Left Front. The party reigns supreme in all administrative matters. And the Left leadership has a penchant for making blasphemous statements and resorting to arbitrary action. The immediate provocation, for instance, in Kerala was the abusive and arrogant statements against the church by the controversial CPM general secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. Sharply reacting to the Christian leadership'sclaim that the late CPM MLA Mathai Chacko was administered the last sacrament, the CPI(M) general secretary characterised the clergy as a bunch of ?despicable creatures?. He accused them of spreading lies. He promised to wage a propaganda war to expose them. The clergy was justified and defended by all the prominent newspapers. Vijayan'saccusations against the Catholic bishops led to state-wide protests and condemnation from all sections of the society.
The CPI(M) leader did not stop it there. He continued to reiterate the stand with the Chief Minister and the party also jumping into the fray. The community leaders who control the lucrative educational establishments in the state were already on a warpath over the CPM interference in the management of these institutions. The Hindus are angry over the Communist takeover of the temple administration and the attempts of the party to siphon off temple funds.
This is how the Marxists have destroyed the carefully crafted electoral coalition. And on the administrative front they have made no impact to overcome the wrath of the faith quotient.
