Communists and Muslims
Ally in India against Bush
Daily Pioneer ^
Posted on 04/20/2006 2:14:18 PM PDT
More reports from around the world concerning this new found strength of radical Muslims using the power of the Ballot box to wage their war against the west and to spread Islam
Unless conngress passes voter
fraud and voting integrity safeguards against imigrants and muslims under
the guidance of foreign Governments being able to tamper with elections --
within a decade they will be able to sucessfully push their own legislation
and agenda through.
In Muslim-dominated areas across Kerala, especially those
where the Indian Union Muslim League till now has been the undisputed political
force and its shimmering green festoons the only political colour, young and
old voters stare in amazement at red banners emblazoned with the CPI(M)'s
sickle, hammer and star symbol and the slogan "Lal Salam".
What adds to their bewilderment
is that Lal Salam is printed not in Malayalam but in Arabic. In some places,
these banners have been put up, to the untrained eye, provocatively and
audaciously near mosques and madarsas.
But these banners neither
symbolise Communist provocation nor Marxist audacity. They are a public
proclamation of the CPI(M)'s decision to actively woo the Muslim vote by
striking an entente with fundamentalist organisations like Abdul Nasser
Madani's People's Democratic Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Compared to the extremist views propagated by these outfits,
the IUML's policies and programmes come across as mellow and tolerably
moderate. And by pandering to these views, the CPI(M) has managed to debilitate
the IUML in several places, reducing Muslim support for the Congress-led UDF,
according to opinion polls, to nearly half that of 2001.
This has understandably caused consternation and concern
among UDF leaders, especially those of the Congress.
"VS Achuthanandan was abusing these very communal
outfits till recently," says Kerala State Congress vice-president and
former Union Minister Mullappally Ramachandran who is visiting the party office
during a break in his hectic campaign schedule. It's hot and muggy and he orders
a round of green coconuts.
"Suddenly, the CPI(M) is wooing the Muslims like never
before," he says, adding, "This shows that they are desperate for
votes and not too sure about winning on the strength of their traditional
supporters."
Local workers of the CPI(M) say they are not taking chances.
In more than 50 of the 140 Assembly constituencies of Kerala, the margin of
victory - or defeat - is less than 2,000 votes.
"Every fourth Keralite is a Muslim and barring 10-odd
constituencies, the Muslim vote could make or break an election," explains
MI Shanavas, Kerala State Congress general secretary. He is the party
pointperson for Muslim affairs and rattles off statistics to drive home his
point.
"I would say in half the constituencies the Muslims are
in a sizeable number. This almost makes them the deciding factor," Mr
Shanavas says. In Malabar region comprising six districts and with 53 seats,
"Muslim voters hold sway in 30 to 40 seats," adds Mr Ramachandran.
But it's not in Malabar alone that the Muslim vote is
significant this time round. In Thiruvananthapuram East and Ernakulam City
constituencies, which are dominated by Nairs, Muslims could decide the final
outcome.
"There are 10,000 Muslim voters in each of these
constituencies. That negates all caste calculations and makes the Muslim vote
the deciding factor," explains Mr Shanavas.
And if the Congress is aware of this, the CPI(M) is making
all efforts to reap the Muslim vote. "The UPA Government is implementing
George Bush's common minimum programme, not the one that we worked out with the
Congress," Prakash Karat, local boy and CPI(M) general secretary,
tirelessly reminds people every time he addresses an election rally.
The message is as much aimed at party cadre as at Muslims,
many of whom, as in the Hindi States, see President Bush as an
"enemy" of Muslims and by extension Islam. For good measure, Mr Karat
and his comrades do not forget to mention how the Congress has let down Iran
under American pressure.
This is not the first time that Bush has played a role in
Kerala elections. In 1990, EMS Namboodiripad declared his party's support for
Saddam Hussein and opposition to Bush Senior on the eve of the first Gulf War
and the Left swept the panchayat election. Last September's panchayat election
saw the CPI(M) berating Bush Junior, backing Iran and sweeping the poll.
The latest declarations are only the icing on the cake. The
Marxists' dalliance with communal politics in Kerala began much before election
was announced.
"Ever since senior CPI(M) leader TK Hamza won the
Manjeri Lok Sabha seat in Malabar, wresting it for the first time from the
IUML, in 2004, the party has been assiduously courting Muslim organisations
that denounce the League as too soft to look after the community's communal
interests," says a professor of political science disenchanted with the
Marxists' communal politics. He requests not to be quoted.
As part of this policy, the CPI(M) has been in the forefront
of demanding the release of notorious extremist Abdul Nasser Madani who is at
present cooling his heels in Coimbatore Central Jail on charges of
masterminding the 1999 bombings. At least 59 were killed and more than a
hundred injured in that terror attack minutes before BJP leader LK Advani arrived
for a scheduled rally.
When the UDF, in a sly move to secure the support of Madani
and his People's Democratic Party that brazenly espouses extremism, moved a
resolution in the State Assembly demanding medical care for the obese proponent
of radical Islam, the CPI(M) swiftly moved in and did one better.
It moved an amendment seeking the release of Madani and the
amended resolution was passed on the day rest of India was celebrating Holi.
Later, Mr TK Hamza visited Coimbatore Central Jail and spent a long time
chatting up Madani. Within days, the PDP declared its support for the CPI(M)
and the LDF. The Jamaat-e-Islami followed suit.
The IUML, which won 16 seats in 2001, finds itself unable to
fob off the aggressive anti-UDF campaign of the PDP and the Jamaat. Union
Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed is being feted in his backyard
in Malabar, but elsewhere he is being berated for "implementing the
Congress's pro-America - and, therefore, 'anti-Islam/Muslim policy' - while
disregarding Muslim sentiments".
The UDF did have an advantage over the LDF after announcing
the implementation of the Narendran Commission report that sets aside jobs for
Muslims. But the lure of jobs has been swamped by militant rhetoric. The CPI(M)
is offering both jobs and jihad.
For the IUML, which played an active role in overthrowing
the country's first Communist Government in 1959 and later flirted with the
Communists occasionally, 2006 may mark a watershed in its history. If the PDP
gains political clout, it can only mean bad news for the IUML.
Meanwhile, the so-called National Development Front, which
offers a platform to radical Islamists of all persuasions and is believed to
have infiltrated the bureaucracy, the police and other organs of the state, is
sitting on the fence. If whispered rumours are to be believed, they have begun
to send feelers to the CPI(M).
"They all want to be with the winning side. But whose
victory will it be? The Marxists or the Islamists?" wonders the professor
who has voted Left all his life.