Kerala pressing religious, not developmental issues

Developmental issues are taking a back seat in the election campaign this time.

In Kerala, the most literate state in the country, developmental issues are taking a back seat in the election campaign this time.
After the opposition parties concentrated their focus on the Sabarimala issue - a hilltop shrine where the Supreme Court ordered the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 against worshippers' belief - the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) had to be on the defensive and justify the state government's stand.
The LDF started the poll campaign earlier than both its major opponents - the Congress-led UDF and the BJP-led NDA - after announcing the candidates much before them. In the beginning, the campaign focused on the state government's popular developmental moves and its successful actions to prevent the spreading of Nipa virus and manage the apocalyptic  floods the state faced in August 2018.
The LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan has implemented many popular schemes, affecting the common man and the party was resting its hopes on these.
However, once the opponents announced their candidates and started the campaign, despite a warning from the state election commission, Sabarimala became the key point where both the Congress and the BJP claimed themselves as the protectors of faith while accusing the state government of violating religion rights. The BJP, after days of brainstorming, fielded BJP leader K. Surendran in the Pathanathitta constituency, which houses the Sabarimala temple. Surendran was jailed for nearly a month for violent protests against the state government's move to implement the Supreme Court order.
To add to the state's opposition leaders, national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other NDA leaders, reached the state to keep the temple issue alive.
While national leaders of the Congress refrained from raking up the Sabarimala issue, state leaders vehemently criticised the state government for its stand.
The BJP has been raising faith and development as its slogan while the Congress took up political killings and Sabarimala as its major campaign issues.
After Rahul Gandhi's candidacy was announced from Wayanad in Kerala, the Congress believes it would create an impact all over the state in favour of the party.
The CPM-led LDF, which believed that the developmental issues would give it an advantage, finally had to divert itself from focusing on the state government's achievements, to defend itself from the allegations on Sabarimala issue. The Left Front had been following the poll body's order to abstain from raising Sabarimala as a poll issue while both the other alliances went on with concentrating on the issue, which many said has given them an upper hand.
CPM party chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the first from the government's side to respond to the allegations raised by both the opponents on the Sabarimala issue. He criticised both the parties for "spreading lies and taking a double stand" in the issue.
When Modi, during an election rally, assured the Hindu faithful that his party would take every action to protect their belief, both the Congress and the CPM came out in public, saying that the prime minister was spreading lies.
One day before the public campaign comes to an end in the state that goes to polls on Tuesday, the national leaders of all the fronts are campaigning in the state.
On Saturday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi campaigned for her brother Rahul Gandhi in various places of Wayanad. During her speeches, she strongly criticised the BJP and Narendra Modi while keeping silence about Rahul's main opponent in Wayanad, Communist Party of India candidate PP Suneer.
BJP president Amit Shah attended a public meeting in the Pathanamthitta constituency on Saturday, while CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury attended campaign meetings in Kannur.
On the campaign's last day on Sunday, many other national leaders are meant to address public meetings in the state, mainly concentrating on the Sabarimala issue. However, what really matters to the voters would be known only after the poll results come out on May 23. If developmental issues take the forefront in the voters' minds the advantage will be for the state government and if it is the matters of faith, either the Congress of the BJP will win more votes.
- anuwarrier@khaleejtimes.com