Kerala: LDF Focuses on Political Issues, UDF Banks on Anti-Incumbency

The two-month-long election campaign in Kerala ended on April 24, as the 2.77 crore strong electorates prepare to exercise their franchise on April 26 to elect 20 members to the 18th Lok Sabha. The state witnessed high decibel campaign from the two major blocks, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF).

A variety of issues, including the possible implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), attack on federalism and the Constitution, financial autonomy of the state government, developmental activities, and the role of elected MPs (18 from the UDF) were raised by the LDF.

The UDF seems to be banking on the anti-incumbency factor against LDF, which has been ruling the state since 2016, the Rahul Gandhi factor (he is the Congress candidate from Wayanad) and the anger against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government. 

Even as the principal fight is between the LDF and UDF, the BJP is trying to make inroads through its attempts to lure Christian votes, a traditional base of the Congress- led UDF, besides trying to evoke Hindu nationalism. 

LDF BANKS ON POLITICAL ISSUES

The LDF began its election campaign much earlier, even before the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the seven-phase polls. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] is contesting from 15 constituencies, the Communist Party of India (CPI) from four and Kerala Congress (Mani) from one constituency. 

The LDF campaign, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, besides a host of the party’s national leadership, including CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, raised issues, including the controversial CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), financial challenges imposed on Kerala by the Union government and the “negligent” attitude of UDF and its MPs. 

Vijayan accused both UDF and BJP of positioning themselves against Kerala, under the guise of opposing the LDF government. “The 18 UDF MPs did not utter a word against the injustice meted out to the people of Kerala by the BJP government. The unitary decision to cut down funds to the state affected the developmental activities, distribution of welfare pensions and infrastructure development”, he said.

The LDF leaders also accused UDF of remaining silent on CAA. Vijayan questioned Congress why it had not addressed CAA in its manifesto, which enables providing citizenship on religious lines.

The LDF campaign also addressed in detail challenges faced by farmers, women, youth and students, of falling prices of agriculture products, increasing unemployment, reduction in allocation for public education by the Union government.

‘CURIOUS CASE OF MISSING FLAGS’

The roadshows of the UDF candidates, particularly that of the Congress, refrained from using any party flags. Even when Rahul Gandhi held a massive show ahead of filing his nomination, the flags of Congress or ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) were not used. The LDF accused the Congress leadership of being wary about a smear campaign by BJP and Sangh Parivar.

Brinda Karat, polit bureau member of CPI(M) accused the Congress party of bowing down to the Sangh Parivar organisations. Addressing an election rally in Wayanad in support of CPI candidate, Annie Raja, carrying a flag of the LDF ally Indian National League (INL), she said “This is the green flag of the INL, a respected ally of the LDF. We also have the red flags of the communist parties. But where are the tricolour flags of Congress and green flags of IUML Is Congress afraid of the Sangh Parivar campaign”.

Adding insult to injury, supporters of IUML who carried party flags to public meetings were reportedly asked to remove those by Congress volunteers. This created an uproar among the rank and file of IUML.  LDF is hoping to reap the dividends of this dissent. 

UDF BANKS ON ‘RAHUL FACTOR’ AGAIN

The UDF, with 18 MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha, is once again hoping to reap rich dividends from the state. The Congress leadership reportedly worked overtime to ensure the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad again. However, the clout of his candidature has apparently reduced compared with 2019.

In addition to the negative impact of the Sabarimala temple entry issue, the UDF is also banking on anti-incumbency against the LDF government. The delay in distributing the welfare pension of Rs 1,600 to around 60 lakh beneficiaries was the primary focus of the UDF’s campaign, which seems to have reached the appropriate audience.

Rahul Gandhi, too, raked up a controversy during his campaign by alleging that BJP and CPI(M) were “hand in glove” and hence the Union government was not acting against the government of Kerala and the Chief Minister. 

The UDF also laid emphasis on the increasing human- animal conflicts and the subsequent increase in deaths due to wild animal attacks. It refrained from raising national, political issues, focussing only on the state- level issues. 

BJP PUSHES HARD

The BJP is contesting from 15 constituencies while leaving five constituencies to its ally, Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS). The party is hoping to make inroads in the state. It has fielded two Union ministers -- Rajiv Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram) and V Muraleedharan (Attingal), in the hope of making some impact. 

The party is also banking on the slogan of ‘Modi’s Guarantee’ while unleashing an advertisement blitzkrieg across different media platforms. The number of visits made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other national leaders reflect BJP’s desperation to win at least one seat from the state. 

The saffron party also made attempts to create a divide among the two principal minority communities, Christians and Muslims. The screening of the film, Kerala Story, through Doordarshan just ahead of the elections created an uproar. The screening of the movie by a few Christian dioceses also created dissent among the community. 

The dissent in BJP ranks in the selection of candidates from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam has reportedly not gone down well among sections of the party.