P.K. Abdul Ghafour

KONDOTTY, Kerala — Kerala’s ruling Communist Marxist Party (CPM) was playing “a dangerous” game using the communal card to grab votes in the recently held local body elections, said Hameed Vaniyambalam, state president of the Welfare Party of India (WPI), a new regional political outfit.

“The LDF government might have won some extra seats in Panchayats, Municipalities, and Corporations in this election by playing this dangerous communal game, which in the long run will benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party and its Sangh Parivar forces,” he explained.

Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Hameed lambasted Marxist Party’s tirade against WPI to create communal polarization in Kerala, saying it was part of its ugly opportunistic politics.

He called upon the educated people of Kerala to hold a serious debate on CPM’s communal politics before it causes further damage to the state’s communal harmony as well as the peaceful coexistence of people following different religious faiths.

Welfare Party, which is a nine-year-old nascent political party, won 65 seats in local bodies — a Corporation councilor, 14 Municipal councilors, a Block Panchayat member, and 49 Gram Panchayat members. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the CPM won 514 Grama Panchayats while the United Democratic Front (LDF) headed by the Congress party grabbed 375 and NDA 23 in the fiercely-fought elections that conducted last week.

Hameed said the UDF, especially Congress Party, failed to transform the LDF government’s failures and corruption scandals into votes. Some Congress leaders’ negative comments on UDF cooperation with the Welfare Party had confused voters, helping the LDF camp to win some additional seats.

“This time when WPI decided to make seat adjustments with UDF in local elections, LDF confronted UDF using communal politics and spreading Islamophobia. The LDF carried out a massive campaign against the UDF and WPI using print, electronic and social media,” the WPI president explained.

The Congress Party’s support to reservation for the economically backward from the upper castes had angered the minorities and Dalits. This again negatively affected UDF votes.

He said Welfare Party won 42 seats in the last local body elections in 2015 when it aligned with the LDF. “Now LDF has unleashed its propaganda machinery to demonize WPI and attack UDF for reaching an understanding with our party in some seats. This policy is totally absurd,” he said.

The LDF used the communal card in order to cover its administrative failures and scandals involving its top party leaders and officials, he added.

WPI’s activities during the past nine years are open to the public. “We introduce a new-gen politics based on social justice, human welfare, and inclusive democracy. We have never tried to communalize politics and our members have not involved in any communal riots and conflicts. We want to bring about a creative change in Indian society and politics.”