Thomas Isaac interview: Is CPI(M) facing a minority challenge in Kerala?

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is eyeing a third consecutive triumph in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, on April 9. The task is far easier said than done.

While preparing to fight off a decade-heavy anti-incumbency threat, the party/alliance will also have to pull off a perfect electoral arithmetic in the upcoming electoral battle with an established foe in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the rising BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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The Federal spoke with TM Thomas Isaac, member of the CPI(M) Central Committee and a former finance minister of Kerala, about matters related to the upcoming elections, including how the Left is hoping to hold together its traditional voter bases particularly when there are talks of shifts within Muslims (27 per cent) and Christians (18 per cent)—two prominent minority voting blocs.

‘Minority community influence on Left always limited’

“Minority community influence on the Left has always been limited. This is one major problem the Left has faced in becoming a majority political force in Kerala. This is the result of the liberation struggle, the anti-communist movement,” the veteran leader said.

Explaining more, Isaac said earlier, the party had Christian leaders, but it was only after the anti-communist liberation struggle (1958-59) that the community got representation in the party again, when leaders like him emerged.

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“But after the anti-communist liberation struggle phase, it is my generation that appears in the Communist party first,” the leader, who is also an economist, said.

Claiming that the CPI(M) on an average gets around 31 per cent of the vote share from the Muslim and 28-29 per cent from the Christians, Isaac said things have changed in the last one decade.

He asserted that certain extremist elements have emerged in the minority communities who give ammunition to the campaign conducted by the engineers of majority communalism.

How CPI(M) counters minority-appeasement charges

Isaac then went on to explain how the CPI(M) and the Left have oriented their stance to tackle allegations from the right-wing communal forces that they appease the minority communities and turning a blind eye towards the disruptive activities.

“Therefore, you have to separate religious belief or the right to have it, from the interpretation of religious belief or religion-based change, like what Jamaat-e-Islami does. Unless you do that, the secular Hindu community—which is the strength of Kerala—becomes easy targets of the Hindutva forces. So, we have taken such a position,” he told The Federal.

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According to the two-time minister from Alappuzha, this stance has also put the Left in a spot as it is accused of being anti-minority, but still the Left owns a fairly decent share of minority vote share.

“The allegations against us as anti-minority have had some influence. So, from about 29-30 per cent vote share, it may have come down by 2-3 per cent in the last elections. But still, at least 25 per cent of this community is with the Left,” Isaac added.

He also said the Left is keeping no stone unturned in reaching out to the minority communities by talking to their leaders, telling them its past records, hoping that the efforts would show some positive outcome.