Incidentally, today is the last day for filing nominations to assembly elections. it's a warmer morning in Kochi and it looks like a clear day. I am worried about earth quake getting closer to us. this time in Burma, our immediate neighbour. While we all admire the engineering strenght of Japan in constructing quake proof buildings, we have to be worried about our state of plight. can we even afford a 2.0 quake?? I doubt. In this banana republic where rich and rulers go hand in hand, who cares about the safety of common man??
Things are getting worse in Libya, Yemen and Syria. Are those people really vying for democracy or more of a religious monarchy?? I wish they are vouching for real democracy.
Sensex made a huge rally y'day. Had I followed my instincts to buy DLF, I would have made some margin y'day. but i hardly follow my instincts. I try to be safe all the time (that's the only way a lower middle class man can think) and let go such fortunes with zero regrets. well, I am yet to learn to play this stocks game. I know the rules but I'm always on the side bench (I remember sreesanth, when i said sidebench..but his benching has various other reasons worth writing another blog).I sympathise with South Africa once again but little can be done to reverse the outcome. End of the day, it's all about rising to occasion. I will admire yuvraj singh and suresh raina for that. Else, India would have been the predecessor to South Africa in the exit route.
I did my usual stuff,straying. so back to political parties..I thought, I will write about the rest of the parties in this chapter.
CPI - the soft communists. I think they will lose their relevance soon or already lost it. Earlier, they had leaders of great charm and capacity. Achutha Menon, PKV, MN etc. Today, they are just dutiful servants of CPM. In the last assembly they had 17 MLA s whereas Congress had 24. This is when LDF had a clear upper hand. In the assembly before that when UDF had lion's share, the positions were like this CPI 7, Congress - 63. May be in another 10 years, this party will merge with CPM (?). Having said all this, I should also tell that their new secretary, C K Chandrappan is a gem among the kerala politicians.
Kerala Congress Mani - KCM - is another soft communal (not communist) party in kerala. This party grew up on 2 themes. Christian farmers (that includes planters too) and encroachments. This is the party that popularized "Pattaya Mela" .. you guys know what it is in essence?? First you say, Govt Land is state asset. never even set your eyes on it. many of us who are scared will listen. but there there are brave men too. they don't listen. they encroach!!! and setup their boundaries on govt land!!!!!!. this could be 2 cents to 100 acres. then they keep on bribing revenue department not to take action on them. after a while, they influence panchayat office and start paying land tax for a land that's not their own. few years will pass by. then UDF will come to power..Mani gets his legacy portfolio, Revenue!! then comes a pattaya mela, in which landless people are given possession of land just enough for a house. along with that, all our bravemen get possession of the property they are holding to. Now everything is legal. you sell it..and find the next piece for grabbing. You all will remember, there was a 100 meter wide road made by encroachers inside mathi kettan national park during Antony's regime in 2001. V S brought it OUT. 100 meters road inside national park!!!! can you believe. many places our National Highway 47 is only 30 meter wide..KCM is an aggressive party. if you go to every highrange in kerala..now to make things easy, the only district without a high range could be aalapuzha..rest all districts have something that could be called highrange. let's make things more easy...you go eastward in any district in kerala. after you climb certain altitude, you will see lots of KL 05 and KL 06 vehicles. be it kasargode, kannur, malappuram, wyanad, palakkad (the northern districts of kerala), you will these vehicles. Forest areas and areas adjacent to forests in the eastern part of kerala are being taken over in a silent revolution by smart people from kottayam and idukki districts. most of them are farmers, most of them have legal land, most of them are highly genuine. but it's an organized mass movement. this movement feeds KCM. while they distance from Chruch as much as they can, ground reality is something else. Cash Crops with zero income tax liabilities make KCM a rich movement. you know what all grow in highrange other than rubber, cardamom and other spices.
BJP - Bharathiya Janata party - The Hindu Soft communals. this party is a joke in kerala where 52% people are hindus. The real problem is not the ego between (27% and 14% strong communities). The real problem is half of the hindus in kerala think beyond religion and are more inclined to political ideologies. the other half is still living in the byegone era of castiesm. they prefer a non hindu over a hindu from another community. That explains why BJP can't open an account in kerala. but then Congress is all determined to help them!! In recent years, many of my educated hindu friends who were followers of congress tell me, they are switching to BJP. but fortunately, many of these guys are working in other states and don't have enough passion to come to kerala and cast their vote. if they had, it would have reflected in the numbers. If CONG continue to give people an impression that they are more than happy to succumb to minority lobbying, BJP has some hope. otherwise, they might have to play the money game here. may be they will soon try it out. other problem with BJP is they aren't favorites for switching leaders. if they could manage to pull few frustrated leaders (with some base) from congress and marxist (if they are non hindus nothing like that), they can try their luck with higher probability in electoral drama.
IUML - Indian Union Muslim League. This is the most prominent party in North Kerala, especially in malappuram dist. they will contest in 12 out of 16 there. They are the soft muslim communals. Contributions of IUML to secular kerala can never be overlooked. But in these years, IUML underwent extreme transformation and got reduced to a consortium of rich muslims (business men and others) with wrested interests. their presence in Union Ministry helped many overseas stake holders protect and enhance their virtual empires. big real estate developers also felt IUML is the best place. Scandals about their top leadership also shook the party and so did young men with more staunch views on religious identity. the biggest crisis IUML might be facing is the drifting of muslim youth to parties that advocate for conversative islamic societies. PDP, SDPI and Jamat-e-islami have all taken away cadres from IUML. Recent prominent addition to IUML is another rich man who has significant influence in 2-3 constitutiencies in malappuram. he fought neck to neck with IUML for 15 years only to realize that he is a better fit there :-).
Kerala Congress B - KCB. this is another soft hindu communal party. It's chairman is a director board member of NSS and it's mostly a family affair. Only 2 MLA s are father and son and I don't think they will change it anytime by themselves. the logic is simple. Revenue to run the party is generated by father and son. If Cong and Communist Party sit together for 15 minutes and make a decision for the welfare this state, this party will cease to exist to loot the public exchequer. Though they are very weak, they get the most prominent portfolios as their family asset in UDF governments - Transport (one of the most corrupt departments in kerala). their influence in UDF leadership might also lead to some fair share of revenue here and there???. In that meeting between Cong and CPM, the following parties can be a part of history - KCB, KCJ, JSS, CMP,KCT, JDS and JDU. together they hold around 23 seats which can be liberated for direct fight between INC and CPM. Also, that will make atleast 8-10 corrupt leaders irrelevant.
KCJ - Kerala Congress Jacob, another soft christian communalist.
KCT - Kerala Congress Thomas - P C Thomas is the man who played wrong cards. from union minister who defeated both UDF and LDF, he plunged too deep. May be we'll see his comeback too. Another soft christian communalist party.
PDP - People's Democratic Party, a soft communal party(muslim). Not in so past as in past, this party almost gave a feeling that the entire muslim population in kerala is with them. that would have made them a natural candidate for atleast 40 seats in 140 seat assembly. their mercurial leader, Abdul Nassar Madani after his release from prison after being kept behind the bars for almost a decade on terrorist charges, went on a spree as a changed man aligned with democratic secularism. He caught attention of almost everyone in the state and majority believed his transformation. He decided to test political waters and LDF saw him as the apostle they were looking for to appease muslim vote banks. In the clash of muslim ideals at Ponnani where both sides forgot a sizable minority, the softer side won. but fate had something else in store for Madani. He got booked again on conspiracy charges. In a high voltage drama at his fort in kollam, where some skeptics predicted an armed conflict, he peacefully co-operated with law enforcement agencies. without Madani, PDP is a clueless herd. But they still enjoy confidence of a sizable minority among muslims. their secular notions are day dreams.
CMP and JSS - I'm afraid they themselves know what their political ideologies are? they are more like 2 private companies lead/funded by founders themselves. few board/corporations 'alloted' to them by UDF, help them breathe easy once every 5 years.
SDPI - is the prominent hard communals. they shot to fame with the "kaivettu" (severing of hand of a college professor) episode. that incident helped them terrify almost all middleclass people in kerala. I am sure they will make political milege in days to come.
Jamat-e-Islami - another hard communal (not by their actions so far but by their very idea of islamic nation). don't think they have any significant follower base.
DHRM - hard communals. they shot to fame with indiscriminate killings (Killing a stranger whom you see on road for no apparent reason) accounted to them. Kerala has sizable dalit population (~12% of total population, now that makes it around 4 million in number) and if mass consolidation happens, they are an unavoidable political force.
Rest of the parties are too small/irrelevant to discuss..
With this I conclude, this episode as well as the coverage of political parties.. Next episode onwards, i want to publish another 3 before April 13, I will focus on the civic issues in kerala.
Best Regards,
Sudheer M
I hope some of you are reading it. in case you do, please leave a comment so that I can be happy :-).
Things are getting worse in Libya, Yemen and Syria. Are those people really vying for democracy or more of a religious monarchy?? I wish they are vouching for real democracy.
Sensex made a huge rally y'day. Had I followed my instincts to buy DLF, I would have made some margin y'day. but i hardly follow my instincts. I try to be safe all the time (that's the only way a lower middle class man can think) and let go such fortunes with zero regrets. well, I am yet to learn to play this stocks game. I know the rules but I'm always on the side bench (I remember sreesanth, when i said sidebench..but his benching has various other reasons worth writing another blog).I sympathise with South Africa once again but little can be done to reverse the outcome. End of the day, it's all about rising to occasion. I will admire yuvraj singh and suresh raina for that. Else, India would have been the predecessor to South Africa in the exit route.
I did my usual stuff,straying. so back to political parties..I thought, I will write about the rest of the parties in this chapter.
CPI - the soft communists. I think they will lose their relevance soon or already lost it. Earlier, they had leaders of great charm and capacity. Achutha Menon, PKV, MN etc. Today, they are just dutiful servants of CPM. In the last assembly they had 17 MLA s whereas Congress had 24. This is when LDF had a clear upper hand. In the assembly before that when UDF had lion's share, the positions were like this CPI 7, Congress - 63. May be in another 10 years, this party will merge with CPM (?). Having said all this, I should also tell that their new secretary, C K Chandrappan is a gem among the kerala politicians.
Kerala Congress Mani - KCM - is another soft communal (not communist) party in kerala. This party grew up on 2 themes. Christian farmers (that includes planters too) and encroachments. This is the party that popularized "Pattaya Mela" .. you guys know what it is in essence?? First you say, Govt Land is state asset. never even set your eyes on it. many of us who are scared will listen. but there there are brave men too. they don't listen. they encroach!!! and setup their boundaries on govt land!!!!!!. this could be 2 cents to 100 acres. then they keep on bribing revenue department not to take action on them. after a while, they influence panchayat office and start paying land tax for a land that's not their own. few years will pass by. then UDF will come to power..Mani gets his legacy portfolio, Revenue!! then comes a pattaya mela, in which landless people are given possession of land just enough for a house. along with that, all our bravemen get possession of the property they are holding to. Now everything is legal. you sell it..and find the next piece for grabbing. You all will remember, there was a 100 meter wide road made by encroachers inside mathi kettan national park during Antony's regime in 2001. V S brought it OUT. 100 meters road inside national park!!!! can you believe. many places our National Highway 47 is only 30 meter wide..KCM is an aggressive party. if you go to every highrange in kerala..now to make things easy, the only district without a high range could be aalapuzha..rest all districts have something that could be called highrange. let's make things more easy...you go eastward in any district in kerala. after you climb certain altitude, you will see lots of KL 05 and KL 06 vehicles. be it kasargode, kannur, malappuram, wyanad, palakkad (the northern districts of kerala), you will these vehicles. Forest areas and areas adjacent to forests in the eastern part of kerala are being taken over in a silent revolution by smart people from kottayam and idukki districts. most of them are farmers, most of them have legal land, most of them are highly genuine. but it's an organized mass movement. this movement feeds KCM. while they distance from Chruch as much as they can, ground reality is something else. Cash Crops with zero income tax liabilities make KCM a rich movement. you know what all grow in highrange other than rubber, cardamom and other spices.
BJP - Bharathiya Janata party - The Hindu Soft communals. this party is a joke in kerala where 52% people are hindus. The real problem is not the ego between (27% and 14% strong communities). The real problem is half of the hindus in kerala think beyond religion and are more inclined to political ideologies. the other half is still living in the byegone era of castiesm. they prefer a non hindu over a hindu from another community. That explains why BJP can't open an account in kerala. but then Congress is all determined to help them!! In recent years, many of my educated hindu friends who were followers of congress tell me, they are switching to BJP. but fortunately, many of these guys are working in other states and don't have enough passion to come to kerala and cast their vote. if they had, it would have reflected in the numbers. If CONG continue to give people an impression that they are more than happy to succumb to minority lobbying, BJP has some hope. otherwise, they might have to play the money game here. may be they will soon try it out. other problem with BJP is they aren't favorites for switching leaders. if they could manage to pull few frustrated leaders (with some base) from congress and marxist (if they are non hindus nothing like that), they can try their luck with higher probability in electoral drama.
IUML - Indian Union Muslim League. This is the most prominent party in North Kerala, especially in malappuram dist. they will contest in 12 out of 16 there. They are the soft muslim communals. Contributions of IUML to secular kerala can never be overlooked. But in these years, IUML underwent extreme transformation and got reduced to a consortium of rich muslims (business men and others) with wrested interests. their presence in Union Ministry helped many overseas stake holders protect and enhance their virtual empires. big real estate developers also felt IUML is the best place. Scandals about their top leadership also shook the party and so did young men with more staunch views on religious identity. the biggest crisis IUML might be facing is the drifting of muslim youth to parties that advocate for conversative islamic societies. PDP, SDPI and Jamat-e-islami have all taken away cadres from IUML. Recent prominent addition to IUML is another rich man who has significant influence in 2-3 constitutiencies in malappuram. he fought neck to neck with IUML for 15 years only to realize that he is a better fit there :-).
Kerala Congress B - KCB. this is another soft hindu communal party. It's chairman is a director board member of NSS and it's mostly a family affair. Only 2 MLA s are father and son and I don't think they will change it anytime by themselves. the logic is simple. Revenue to run the party is generated by father and son. If Cong and Communist Party sit together for 15 minutes and make a decision for the welfare this state, this party will cease to exist to loot the public exchequer. Though they are very weak, they get the most prominent portfolios as their family asset in UDF governments - Transport (one of the most corrupt departments in kerala). their influence in UDF leadership might also lead to some fair share of revenue here and there???. In that meeting between Cong and CPM, the following parties can be a part of history - KCB, KCJ, JSS, CMP,KCT, JDS and JDU. together they hold around 23 seats which can be liberated for direct fight between INC and CPM. Also, that will make atleast 8-10 corrupt leaders irrelevant.
KCJ - Kerala Congress Jacob, another soft christian communalist.
KCT - Kerala Congress Thomas - P C Thomas is the man who played wrong cards. from union minister who defeated both UDF and LDF, he plunged too deep. May be we'll see his comeback too. Another soft christian communalist party.
PDP - People's Democratic Party, a soft communal party(muslim). Not in so past as in past, this party almost gave a feeling that the entire muslim population in kerala is with them. that would have made them a natural candidate for atleast 40 seats in 140 seat assembly. their mercurial leader, Abdul Nassar Madani after his release from prison after being kept behind the bars for almost a decade on terrorist charges, went on a spree as a changed man aligned with democratic secularism. He caught attention of almost everyone in the state and majority believed his transformation. He decided to test political waters and LDF saw him as the apostle they were looking for to appease muslim vote banks. In the clash of muslim ideals at Ponnani where both sides forgot a sizable minority, the softer side won. but fate had something else in store for Madani. He got booked again on conspiracy charges. In a high voltage drama at his fort in kollam, where some skeptics predicted an armed conflict, he peacefully co-operated with law enforcement agencies. without Madani, PDP is a clueless herd. But they still enjoy confidence of a sizable minority among muslims. their secular notions are day dreams.
CMP and JSS - I'm afraid they themselves know what their political ideologies are? they are more like 2 private companies lead/funded by founders themselves. few board/corporations 'alloted' to them by UDF, help them breathe easy once every 5 years.
SDPI - is the prominent hard communals. they shot to fame with the "kaivettu" (severing of hand of a college professor) episode. that incident helped them terrify almost all middleclass people in kerala. I am sure they will make political milege in days to come.
Jamat-e-Islami - another hard communal (not by their actions so far but by their very idea of islamic nation). don't think they have any significant follower base.
DHRM - hard communals. they shot to fame with indiscriminate killings (Killing a stranger whom you see on road for no apparent reason) accounted to them. Kerala has sizable dalit population (~12% of total population, now that makes it around 4 million in number) and if mass consolidation happens, they are an unavoidable political force.
Rest of the parties are too small/irrelevant to discuss..
With this I conclude, this episode as well as the coverage of political parties.. Next episode onwards, i want to publish another 3 before April 13, I will focus on the civic issues in kerala.
Best Regards,
Sudheer M
I hope some of you are reading it. in case you do, please leave a comment so that I can be happy :-).
5 comments:
Good and thoughtful observations. i really appreciate your broadmindedness in critically looking at your own party.
Thanks Simon..
your articles are very informative. its an enlightner for the likes of me, who would like no know about the politics of the state but dont know where to start..looking forward to more
Thanks Nidhi..I will update soon
Sudheer M
Very good article
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