The Dark Side of Kerala Politics
Kerala, a progressive, 100% literate, and highly politically conscious state, is always regarded as a model state for the rest of the country. But there are a lot of things in Kerala politics that you should understand, that it is regressive, not to be proud of, and something we should totally denounce. The ground reality is sometimes opposite to the well-glorified image of the state. Ahead of the state elections, it is important discuss them. The objective here is to expose them and realise that Kerala politics needs a lot of change and modifications.
Rivalry turns Violent
Politics is inevitable without competition, contestation, and confrontation. It is all about rivalry between people, parties, and their followers. It is healthy and needed in a democracy. But often this rivalry becomes a poison when it leads to violence. A violent democracy is no longer a democracy. Historically, Kerala has had strong political violence, especially in Northern Kerala. Kannur has been the hub of confrontation between CPIM and the RSS-BJP. Even though it has drastically come down in recent years, tense situations still continue. Similarly, Kerala's campuses also have a vibrant political culture. But sometimes it also leads to violence between various student unions such as SFI, KSU, ABVP, and MSF. All of them together have a big rivalry, which often leads to minor and major incidents of violence.
Caste and Religious Politics
Everyone assumes that Kerala is a literate, educated, secular, and hence caste and religiously agnostic society. That may be true relatively when you compare it to other states, but it is still a defining characteristic of Kerala politics, just like the politics of any state.
A few decades ago, Communist parties commanded a strong economic vote, while the UDF commanded the identity-based votes. Now it is defined in caste-based terms. Just ten years ago, everyone would say, Upper castes would vote for the Congress, Lower castes for CPIM and CPI, and minorities for Kerala Congress and Muslim League.
Since 2018, we have seen the issue of Sabarimala dominating the political discourse. Politicians see this issue can be used gain more apolitical and conservative voters. Today, you can say upper castes have largely moved towards the BJP; lower castes are swiftly also moving towards the BJP at an alarming rate. Congress has consolidated the minority votes as well. So now everything is seen through the lens of caste and religion, not economics.
Now every election, caste and religion become important factors for deciding not only the ministers and the CM, but also for deciding the candidates of each and ever constituencies. It is not for representation but for getting the votes of the dominant caste/religious groups.
Intervention of Social Groups
Kerala society is very well known for its organisations. People naturally organise themselves to smaller groups and exert their power. This is a continuation of the previous section. We have understood that parties put the candidates based on caste to get their votes. Let us not just blame the politicians or parties for that. The blame is also on various social groups like NSS, SNDP, Samastha, the Church, and many more. They selectively support candidates and parties who are from their denomination or who align with their interests. They not only force parties to dance to their tunes but also make decisions on their behalf.
Changing parties just before elections
Across India, we see that candidates change parties before elections and parties change their alliances. Given that Kerala fundamentally has three alliances- UDF, LDF, and NDA. Parties jump alliances. Twenty-Twenty joins NDA, CK Janu's and PV Anvar's parties joined UDF, and KCM joined LDF just before the 2021 elections. This process has been normalised now.
Similarly, political leaders also changed their parties overnight. Ideology, principles, and policies don't matter at all. These people realise they were discriminated against and disadvantaged within their parties just at the footstep of the elections, and this is the lie they say. This can also be due to them being denied tickets by their respective parties. P Sarin joined CPIM, and Sandeeo Warrier joined Congress just before the Palakkad election. Both of them were key in deciding the election outcome. Now you have Aisha Potty, who went to Congress, Akhil Marar, who joined Twenty-20, Reji Lukkose, who joined the BJP, and much more. Defections are very much rampant in Kerala politics.
All of this shows that for a few years, Kerala politics has become polarised, ideologyless, and pragmatic. Parties have largely become less about principles and policies and more about transactions and what benefits each and every one will get.
Party-affiliated media outlets
The media is the fourth pillar of a democracy. It is the duty of the media to ask questions to people in power. What if the media itself is controlled by the people who control the government? There are three different alliances led by the CPIM, the Congress, and the BJP, which have at least one channel who run in their favour. Can we expect the media to do justice by questioning the governments controlled by their own party? Even more are the spurting social media outlets and channels indirectly supporting various parties, mainly aimed at propaganda, getting more supporters, and keeping their cadre running.
Rising apoliticalism
An emerging phenomenon in Kerala politics for the past twenty years has been the rising apoliticalism, typically among the urban voters. This has been after deindustrialisation and globalisation, which changed the nature of the Indian economy. The service sector boomed while the primary and secondary sectors collapsed. This has largely changed the political landscape to a highly anti-left one.
One of the main reasons is the erosion of the Working class- Once, cities used to be a hub of working people. This is a global phenomenon. Today, no more because it's expensive to live in cities, and the changing nature of the economy. Todaym Kerala is a tertiary economy state- There is no working class, there are more professionals and middle class, which are more favourable to the anti-Left. Why anti-Left? They have a strong hatred for Left rhetoric, such as Hartals, Unions, and Welfare. The large tax-paying middle class hates their money being spent on welfare rather than on development.
This has not only opened a space for centre-right and conservative spaces but also for apolitical entities that reject mainstream politics. They talk more about people politics, populist tendencies, and rejection of power politics. The rise of India's first Corporate Twenty-Twenty and an urban party such as V4 Kochi clearly indicates the changing thinking of urban and suburban voters in the state where the majority of the population lives in urban areas.
Along with this comes the general public's flirtation with the religious conservatism of all religions. Once people get enough money, they will be very conscious of their identity. Along with that also comes a strong sense of cultural nationalism, which the middle class across India is embracing. All of these together have made a large chunk of the population, mostly the young population, disillusioned with the current politics and hating and dissociating with the politics as a whole.
Posters, Bills, and Billboards
What is the single most important problem that Kasargod to Trivandrum faces equally? It is the posters and billboards related to politics, politicians, and political rallies. This is a big problem across the breadth and length of Kerala. It is unlikely we will see a similar problem in any other state of India to this extent. In the age of digital technologies and TV media, it is important to see whether we actually need such promotions these days. Such posters are not only a waste of money and paper but also destroy the aesthetics and beauty of our towns and cities.
Conclusion
This article is made with pure intention to change the nature of Kerala politics. We are yet to fully attain political maturity, and we must work towards that by realising the problems within the system. There is a strong need to proper civics classes to people on the role of politics in their lives, various politico-legal concepts, and most importantly, how to vote. Political awareness is not about which party you support, but rather how you can understand society's needs.
Kerala politics is great; there is high public interest and political participation. What we need is a bottom-up change in what we actually need from politicians. Only if we, the voters, force the politicians to change will they mend their ways. Otherwise, be ready to listen to more religion and caste rhetoric instead of democracy and progress.
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