Recently, the CPI(M) Politburo member Vijayraghavan has created a big political storm by bringing a hidden fact in front of everyone by accusing the Congress party or rather the Gandhi family of communal support behind the electoral victory of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Wayanad. As the time passes by, the allegations of Muslim vote jihad/appeasement against the Gandhi family are getting stronger.
Recently, the newly elected MP of Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi, went to Parliament with a bag dedicated to Palestine. This was also an attempt of Muslim appeasement. We cannot deny that Priyanka Gandhi’s political move came on the instructions of the Indian Union Muslim League. We should not forget that in 2017, there is a road dedicated to the name of Gaza Street in the Kasargod district of Kerala, which is named after the Gaza Strip of Palestine.
The Congress party and the Gandhi family were till now accused of communal politics in a hushed tone, but this time by making such an allegation by a senior CPI(M) leader, this fact has been exposed. Now the Congress party is only paying lip service to counter the allegation. The Congress party is becoming aggressive as the allegation is directly against the Gandhi family.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala after finding himself unopposed against Smriti Irani of the BJP from Amethi. This was the first time any member of the Gandhi family contested from Kerala. Earlier, Indira Gandhi had contested from Chikmangaluru in Karnataka in 1978 and from Medak in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 1980.
There was nothing new in Rahul Gandhi’s contesting from this new seat. The biggest reason behind this decision of the Gandhi family was the majority of Muslims on this seat. The Gandhi family would choose any seat which has high Muslim concentration. The second reason behind the Gandhi family contesting from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was that there is no scope of division of Muslim votes in Kerala. In many States of the country, there is competition among regional parties or between regional parties and the Congress party for Muslim votes, which is not the case in Kerala. Owaisi’s party The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen also has no intention of contesting elections in Kerala, hence the Gandhi family took this decision without any major thinking.
In 2019 itself, the Congress party has paid off its debt by getting the Ramanathapuram seat in Tamil Nadu to its ally the Indian Union Muslim League, on the strength of which the Congress party gets Muslim votes in Kerala, in exchange for Rahul Gandhi’s support in Wayanad. The Indian Union Muslim League has had long record of contesting and winning the Lok Sabha seats of Malappuram (Manjeri) and Ponnani in Kerala, to which the Ramanathapuram seat of Tamil Nadu was also added in 2019.In the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections the Indian Union Muslim League have three Lok Sabha MPs. In the 2008 delimitation, a lot of similarities have been seen between Manjeri and Malappuram.
Not only this, but Vijayraghavan also presented evidence by saying that extremist elements were present in Priyanka Gandhi’s rallies. According to Vijayraghavan, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have won from Wayanad with the support of extremist elements of minority communal forces.
In Kerala politics, former Chief Minister of Congress Party K Karunakaran had formed the UDF and included the Indian Union Muslim League in it. Since then, the Congress Party-led UDF has been getting a large share of Muslims.
