BeyondHeadlines Staff Reporter
Thiruvananthapuram: In a major development, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has extended support to the Left party and its partners in 124 of the total 140 constituencies in Kerala for today’s polls despite the fact that Communist Party of India (Marxist) considers the former an extremist and communal organisation.
In the rest of the 16 constituencies, the Jamaat backs the Congress in 15 seats and in the remaining one place – Eranad – its activists will abstain from voting.
The organisation has decided not to support the ice cream sex scandal tainted Muslim League leader P. K. Kunhalikutty and is surprisingly backing CPM leader and industries minister Elamarak Kareem whom it had opposed tooth and nail in a land acquisition deal for a project.
Jamaat state ameer T. Arifali said the state committee of the organisation had decided to support the CPM after evaluating the performances of the previous Congress and the present CPM government.
It found that the Left government was relatively superior and more focused on the welfare of the people.
The organisation particularly praised the empowerment of the public sector enterprises, pension schemes and the strengthening of the public distribution system, besides a relatively good and corruption-free governance.
The support is being offered to Congress and its partners in 15 seats on the basis of the recommendations made by the organisation’s committees in these constituencies after considering the circumstances specific to those areas, organisational priorities and the opinion of its members in the constituencies.
Jamaat is, however, decisive only in half a dozen constituencies.
Though the CPM vows that it had nothing to do with the decision, the party may feel relieved as it was in dire need of the support of a Muslim outfit in the election.
The party parted ways with the Indian Union Muslim League in the early eighties when the present Left Democratic Front (LDF) was formed.
Then, the CPM had said there was no more truck with any communal party.
But the continuous setbacks in elections forced the CPM to seek support of the Muslim community.
So, the party weaned away a faction from the Muslim League and offered a berth to the new faction christened Indian National League (INL) in the LDF. The INL recently deserted the CPM and merged with Muslim League. The Jamaat, though partially, filled that vacuum now in the front.
