Alcohol prohibition in Bihar: Why the ‘right to consume’ is not absolute?

Individual liberty is the only value placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the social and political existence of modern man.  The veneration and preservation of the value has become a blind faith. Any transgression condemned as blasphemy. It has also became the only prism through which we evaluate any social and political phenomenon.

Consideration for liberty envelops us from all around. And its impact are wide ranged and felt everywhere. Disregard for institutions, disrespect for social customs and relations, growing inequality of wealth, over emphasize on right over duties and consumptive culture of capitalism are maladies of ‘liberty syndrome.’ The arguments raised against prohibition in Indian context is also a symptom.

The choice to consume alcohol often asserted as an inviolable individual right. It can, at best, can be regulated, not banned. Prohibition can be an unwarranted excess of state authority over individual choices. However, amidst the cries of individual choices, we fail to recognize drinking as a social evil. Social harmony, healthy life and human dignity are secondary to one’s right to choose. Any of these values can be sacrificed at the altar of individual liberty. 

Alcohol prohibition is also portrayed as a failed policy. Many states like Andhra Pradesh have withdrawn its implementation citing practical difficulty. They argue that black market will emerge creating conditions for tragedies by consuming bad alcohol. The history, as rightly pointed out, is dotted with failures of alcohol prohibition. But history can also be created. In places where prohibition has failed, active civil society support and vigilance was absent. Law enforcement also need to be stringent and awareness campaigns are essential. Such firmness and multi-faceted approach were often absent among our political class. Such experiments doomed to fail.

But in the case of Bihar, the severity of prohibition law, effective implementation and participation of people in the initiative to take the policy as a movement brings hope. The Nitish government need applause for taking the prohibition initiative from a mere political cover-up to a conscious and concerted effort for social transformation. Prohibition policy in Bihar promote society driven and state supported way to eliminate a social evil. It is an exemplary approach to initiate social progressiveness through consensus and participation, not by dictation and imposition. Therefore, the policy, even if to withdraw on a later date, would have deepened awareness and alertness against alcoholism. Therefore the policy need to be welcomed as a bold experiment, rather than pessimistically writing it off on the beginning itself.

Prohibition policies are considered political gimmick to woo women voters. But why it becomes so appealing?  Because, women, especially in the lower economic strata, is bearing the brunt of alcoholism silently. They wish the policy will at last bring peace and happiness to their families. It is the due duty of an elected government to address the concern of the women through stern action and commitment. By doing so, the decision becomes more democratic even if it violates the individual right to consume. Hence, prohibition is not a political gimmick, but a democratic decision that reflect the interest of majority, in this case, the poor women.

Some also argues that alcohol is a respite from the agonies of daily life. It helps to forget the pain, sadness, loneliness and work strain. But never the problems get resolved by drinking. Alcoholism is a symptom of what have been wrong with our society, not a medicine to cure our problems. Someone get addicted to alcohol as a conscious choice. He or she often forced to choose alcohol to escape deprivation caused from inequality from the loneliness. But, the poor alcohol can’t rescue him. It does not pull him up from the sorrows. It just push him to further deprivation and loneliness, completing an inescapable vicious cycle. On other words, the roots of alcoholism is to be found in the hollowness of our social, political and economic systems that doesn’t appreciate the human dignity and his wholeness. However, to escape the vicious cycles, some concrete and immediate policy action such as prohibition, though it is a superficial solution, to be taken.

Other arguments raised in support of alcohol ban are also equally valid. The financial burden caused out of miseries of alcohol far outweigh the profit from liquor sale. But the alcohol ban is strongly grounded on a moral base rather than the economic merit. One need to keep away his right to consumption for the larger societal good, to eliminate a social evil that destruct and degrade the standard of living and the harmony in the society. 

Another argument expose the hypocrisy we follow in our modern life; the artificial and untenable division of public and private. We do not accept an alcoholic in our work place, public space, schools, theatres etc. An alcoholic is a nuisance for others. Through rules and regulation, we condemn such practices. Then, why the same is allowed in the private spaces and families as well? If an alcoholic person is not accepted in public because of the nuisance, there is no reason to allow it in our families as well. Then the argument comes up that the state should be kept out in regulating our private matters. But the famous slogan raised by feminist movement remind us that private is also politics. When women and children are facing harassment, agonies and violence in their families due to their alcoholic members and when it’s a persisting and all pervasive problem, state can no more remain allusive to this social problem. By prohibiting alcohol, state is not unnecessarily interfering in your personal choice, but ensuring social justice for women and children and fulfilling its constitutional commitment.

Therefore, someone who place individual rights as a supreme and inviolable virtue will never get to understand the revolutionary aspect of a genuine prohibitory order. One who lament over impracticality of the ban, would never appreciate the scope of concerted social and state action in the eradication of a social evil. By prohibiting alcohol and by starting a concerted social movement, Bihar has set aside these hallow arguments of libertarian pessimists and charted out a courageous course in social policing. Regardless of the outcome, the sincerity and commitment itself deserves appreciation. 

Tolerance is an empty word : Need for more localized resistance against Hindwata

There is much buzz around the word ‘intolerance’ these days. There were a series of incidence that have been interpreted as ‘intolerance’ to various minorities and ideas. Fringe elements are active which tries to reap maximum advantage from a communally polarised atmosphere. The government has also criticized for its reluctance to take strong action against those who instigate hatred through their hate speeches and actions. Five stages can be identified with regard to the evolving political condition in India.

1)      BJP, a pro-Hindwata party, come to the power with a clear majority in the 2014 parliament election on the basis of charisma of Narendra Modi. He was enchanting and promising through his forceful rhetoric of development agenda in contrast to the corrupt and inefficient congress incumbent.

2)      However, Modi’s victory has slightly dented by several criticisms raised against him. His silent support to the 2002 Gujarat pogrom and his commitment to the Hindwata organizations came under criticisms. They also pointed out that the major party does not have a single MP from the Muslims which constitute 15% of the total population.

3)      Modi showed engaging statesmanship, wished to be well connected to the people and attempted a vigorous foreign policy. The emphasize was on the ambitious campaigns such as make in India, digital India which are envisioned to fast-track the development agenda. While doing so, Modi put least care to address the eroding communal fabric of the society.

4)      It provided the fringe groups to usher in more intolerant actions ranging from the brutal killing of rationalists, Muslims and Dalits. Though not spondaic in character, the events had enough to shaken the trust in the government. Prime minister remained silent, abdicated from the responsibility of addressing the concerns and fear of minorities.

5)      This was outrageous at least for liberals who came out open for protest and returned their national honours condemning the intolerant situation in the country. Several others have joined with them expressing solidarity. Their argument is that the communally motivated groups engage in unacceptable actions against minorities and the government has done nothing to prevent those. They fear the basic tenants of Indian constitution, especially secularism, might be altered and worry the intolerant situation in the country.

Two equally different perspective analysis can be offered for these evolving conditions. One is to argue the unnecessary haste with which the political opponents and liberals went against the BJP government.  The intolerant actions may not have a spike in the recent past. Such actions happened in other regimes also and not always the onus has put onto the central government. Add to the fact that the state governments are in charge of law and order situation and, therefore, more responsible for not preventing such actions. Interestingly most of the state in which these unfortunate events occurred is ruled by BJP’s political opponents.

Second is to blame central government for its inaction. Otherwise vocal and communicative PM has remained silent to address these issues. Though he has spoken out, the genuineness and determination to prevent such events were absent. Add to the fact that he already has a past which is suspected for his communal character.

Therefore one cannot conclusively argue that how far the central government is responsible for these unfortunate events. But there is also no denial that the fringe elements are active in a way that is unprecedented.

So how do we make sense of the reluctance of the central government amidst the irresistible outcry to blame the government? Here we must clearly distinguish the unfolding events into three processes that are operated in two interconnected levels.  These processes are ‘stimulations’, ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’. The terrains are ‘national’ and ‘local’.  What we can conclusively argue that the problematic events are happened in the local level due to stimulations at the national level for which a national solution is sought.  

The specific events in different places are perpetuated by intolerant, organized or unorganized, local fringe groups.  The events are indeed local in character as these events neither were sporadic nor were happened in one specific issue. This creates logical inconsistency in reading these local odd events into a national problem. But through vigorous campaigning and convincing arguments it is being established that the stimulation for these events are derived from the pro-Hindwata party BJP led government. So the only counter BJP can offer is to disown the stimuli it created at the national level in order to create problems at the local level.

But my concern is regarding the solution to this specific issue. It is indeed laudable that the vigilant intellectuals and politicians has seen the national stimuli behind the local events and have done well to counter it in the national level. The present situation has two fronts as far as Hindwata groups are  concerned. They are adopting a two-prone strategy ever since the present government in the power. While it has taken a soft and slow approach at the national level, it has also envisaged a more concrete and aggressive local strategy to push Hindwata effectively. When an opponent opens two fronts it is important to oppose them in both the fronts. The resistance is effective in the national front as the political leaders and civil society leaders have done really well. But what about the local front through which communal tensions are crawled in an irreversible manner.

What does mean by the local front of the Hinduata? It refers to the active platforms created through the well functioning organizations which have effective hold over local issues. These innumerable hindwata groups are active in various manner at various places and involves in local issues which offers them a certain kind of legitimacy. Effective functioning is facilitated by a cadre like structure of RSS and monetary support of the interested people in power. The cultural organizations are consisted by these groups are effective in propagating their ideas to a vast population.  In short, Hindwata has a well laid out and well trained carder like support basis and a ready to act institutional capabilities at the local level. It is alarming and unfolding of such a situation in our localities are largely neglected by the national leaders who are engaged only in a national resistance to Hindwata.

And why we must take into our localities, micro spaces as one would call them, into serious consideration? Even while there would be national stimuli for these kinds of unfortunate local events, it also has peculiar immediate local circumstances that ultimately lead to these events. These local events in turn react upon the national sphere and will have infectious effects. Pick any communal riot happened in the country since partition. While some of them have directly drawn from the national issues, it is the effective local institutional capacities which have enabled facilitative conditions for these riots.  The communal events which are not directly linked to any national issues are evolved out of local communal tensions which were prevailed in a particular place for long due to local reasons. Also the communal tensions, especially riots, have a peculiar character that creates conditions in which the national and state level leaders might lose grip over its followers. Historians have pointed out that the tower tall figures of independence movement were mere spectators to the partition holocaust as they have no control over the already maddened people. Therefore it is imminent for secularists to create and operate local institutional mechanisms, dedicated bunch of local leaders and cadre like followers who are committed to the secular ethos. Secularist must create a vigorous local front along with its resistance at the national level to effectively counter the creeping Hinduata.  

Such an action requires imagination and leadership. But above all, we must abandon the toleration idiom altogether as it refers to a negative attitude towards harmonious living. ‘Tolerance’ means that we must either not to be bothered about other communities or we must adjust/bear the other community for the sake of coexistence. It is utterly a flawed attitude we must forsake. The ‘toleration’ is a word that rest primarily on liberal ethos like non-interference and religious freedom. Such a paradigm is well suited for a society that is homogeneous in character or it will work well as far as there is no conflict of interest between communities. But India is highly diverse and wounded by periodic communal tensions and most grievous was the partition itself. With this strained historical baggage, it is no more viable to practice non-interference. The memories of communal hatred are a dormant force within communities which is often aroused and exploited by opportune political leaders. Therefore toleration is an empty phrase which can do nothing to douse the communal flame and heal the communal wound. We must go beyond to offer a hand to the other communities as a sign of assurance and as a solid gesture of forgiveness. It can only happen only by moving beyond the toleration paradigm to the active engagement to learn and respect the others ways and culture. Differences are an integral part of our societal living which is needed to celebrated and cherished, not a burden to be tolerated.  Such a mind set is the starting point from which our liberal framework of mutual coexistence can be transformed into a meaningful harmonious living of a communitarian framework. Such transition will be cathartic for India. 

Confronting ‘Political Untouchability’: BJP in Kerala

The spectacular electoral victory of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in 2014 general election slightly diminished by a blank the party has drawn in the southern State of Kerala. Kerala is the only major State not to send a BJP representative to the 16th Lok Sabha. Above all, despite more than half a century of sustained activity, Kerala remains the only major state in India to have never elected a parliamentary or state assembly representative belonging to BJP or its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh(BJS). Even though the southern states formed a fortress against BJP for long, a breakthrough has achieved in Karnataka. Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala still remain just as toeholds for BJP. While the unimpressive performance in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh can be attributed to the presence of established regional parties, the reasons for inhospitable environment for the BJP in Kerala lies elsewhere. Even though the Malayali regional identity is strong, the dominant parties in Kerala – CPM and the Congress – are polity-wide parties. Due to their national character, the discussions surrounding Loksabha elections predominantly feature national issues. Therefore, unlike Tamil Nadu and Andhra, the dismal performance of BJP in the state has to be explained using variables other than the regionalist party system. A detailed analysis of special features of social composition, discourses surrounding communalism and the institutional and organizational factors would shed light on the poor performance of BJP.

With the brief explanation on the ideological character and mobilization strategies of BJP, the paper moves on to examine why these strategies and ideologies failed to make inroads in Kerala. Multiple factors converge to inhibit Hindu vote consolidation and thereby BJP’s advancement, among them, the principle factor is ideologically driven political landscape, creating a political untouchability towards BJP. By tracing back the dormant communal consciousness in the Kerala society, the paper attempts to interrogate the claim which portrays Kerala society as the most religiously tolerant and cosmopolitan state. And several recent controversies which shaped the communal discourse also signal a sharpened resurfacing of dormant communal consciousness. With the all powerful government at the centre and a favorable communal discourse in the state, BJP gains more acceptability and recognition which would translate into promising electoral outcomes. The paper restricts its focus on the events and processes after the formation of the present UDF state government that is from 2011, to grasp the detailed recent undercurrents in the communal discourse.

Ideology and Strategy of BJP

A detailed statement of the ideologies and strategies of the BJP has to be made before moving on to the discussions on the prospects of the party in Kerala. At least in theory, the principal ideological stands of BJP, as expounded in ‘Our five commitments are nationalism and national integration, democracy and fundamental rights, positive secularism, Gandhian socialism and value-based politics. This would present BJP as a progressive party with liberal and humanitarian concerns. However, the party - an offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) - always seen to be the political arm of Hindutva forces. The BJP must be seen as the latest and currently the most vital political force striving to build a united Indian nation, a dynamic economy and a strong state. It seeks to overcome the heterogeneity and caste divisiveness of Indian society by consolidating a sense of Hindu nationalism around symbols common to all who claim to be Hindus. But it is also noteworthy that the party has always oscillated between a militant and moderate approach to politics.. Even while the party reaped much electoral dividend by communalizing the political field, their leaders were always inclined to adopt a moderate position to enable coalitions and to create consensus. Describing this dual political stand of the BJP, A. G Noorani comments: 

“A strikingly consistent feature of the BJP is calculated ambiguity. They are innately communal but intensely resent the charge and claim to be ‘nationalists’. They would avow that their political lexicon ‘Hindu’ covers all who are born in Hindustan. In definitive pronouncements and policies, however, it is Hindus as ‘the majority community’ harassed by the very ‘minorities’ whom they had ‘appeased’ “

The growth and consolidation of BJP in the Indian politics was gradual. It advanced by capitalizing on anti incumbencies and with the aid of communal tensions. Although the party did relatively well in the state assembly elections in 1980s such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, it failed to get a head start in the national level. It is only by co-opting the radical anti-Muslim discourse and the political pragmatism of Sangh Parivar, the party deepened its social base. It also employed an array of issues and new technologies of mass mobilization to disseminate the radical agenda. The election campaign of BJP in North India most often preceded and accompanied by months of Hindu-Muslim communal tensions and severe rioting. Therefore, the BJP’s drive for national consolidation has been inseparable from an intensification of bitter communal conflicts. It is also being observed that the BJP could attract many of the upper caste Hindus into its support base at the wake of implementation of Mandal Commission recommendation which reserved educational seats and government jobs for backward caste. As a result of these tactics and strategies, solid social base of BJP is constituted by the Hindu, upper caste, and Hindi-speaking. However, 2014 general election witnessed an unprecedented social coalition between upper caste and OBCs coupled with the ‘Modi effect’, placing the party into the center of Indian politics. Yet, despite BJP’s dramatic victory, its support base remained circumscribed, both socially and geographically. Kerala indicates the limit of its reach. If BJP wishes to maintain the majority, it will need to build a wider and deeper organizational base and have to expand its pockets of influence. Hence, Kerala is important for BJP to retain the power as well as to emerge as a genuine pan-Indian force. According to James Chirayankandathil, the main significance of the Hindu nationalism and BJP lies in

“… throwing into sharp relief the social and regional factors inhibiting their emergence as a genuinely pan-Indian force. The dilemma of BJP faces in Kerala is not peculiar to the state. It highlights a choice it cannot indefinitely avoid making as a national party in a diverse federal polity…In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that if Hindu nationalism could achieve a breakthrough in such an inhospitable setting as Kerala, it would demonstrate that it has the potential to do so virtually anywhere in India.” 

Why there is a ‘political untouchability’ to BJP in Kerala?

The modern state of Kerala was formed in 1956 by merging much of the former princely states of Travancore and Cochin, united since 1949, with Malabar and Kasargod, hitherto parts of Madras state. Politics in Kerala is dominated by two coalition fronts: the Communist Party of India(Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. These two coalitions have been alternatively voted to power since 1982. Most of the major political parties in Kerala, except for Bharatiya Janata Party, belong to one or the other of these two alliances and have in the past shifting allegiances a number of times. In Kerala, it is difficult for a single party to contest and win even a single seat, because the voter perception is towards voting for a front.

Diversified and geographically scattered communities provide a mosaic view of Kerala society. According to the 2001 Census of India figures, 56% of Kerala residents are Hindus, 24% are Muslims, 19% are Christians, making the society truly plural in character. Within the Hindu fold there are two communities, viz. Nairs and Ezhavas. Nairs, who constitute 16 percent of the population and largely benefited from modern education, have been historically the warrior caste of Kerala and owners of large land estates until early twentieth century. Ezhavas, who constitute 26 per cent of the population, are the leading community among the lower caste and benefitted from social reform movements and modern education. The Christians consist of forward and backward groups. The larger and influential group called Syrian Christians is the leading farming and business community and pioneers in the field of education and print media. Muslims, who constitute 24 per cent of the population, is considered to be a socially and economically backward community. However, the remittances from Gulf migrants have substantially improved their social and economic condition and presently an influential force in the economy. One important feature about these communities is their geographical concentration. Although they are scattered all over the state, they have certain areas of concentration or what may be called ‘pocket boroughs’. The direct impact of this population distribution is visible on the strength of the communal parties that seek to represent these communities. The Kerala congress secures the largest representation from the Christian dominated areas, and the Muslim league from the Muslim dominated district Malappuram.

The electoral performance of the BJP in the state broadly reflects these demographic features. The electoral performance of BJP in the Lok Sabha elections since 1980, given in the Table 1, shows that the voting share of BJP always hovered around 5-10%, insufficient to win a seat so far. State wise data is hardly any help in studying the social base and influence of the party. But sub-regional analysis does. Traditionally, the BJP has strong footholds in Thiruvananthapuram due to the strong influence of Hindu consciousness as well as in Kasaragodu because of the non-Malayali majority population. Interestingly, the other districts in which it consistently did better than in the state overall were Malappuram and Kozhikode, the two with the highest proportion of Muslims. In the districts where non-Hindu communities dominate, BJP could gain more vote share, probably due to the consolidation of Hindu votes as a result of growing insecurity. The recent general election also confirms the communal voting patterns as shown in the chart 1. These electoral data indicates that it is essential for BJP in Kerala to pool votes from the backward Hindus which have traditionally been supported communist parties and this fact has been acknowledge by the BJP and part of their recent Kerala plan. Communist parties in the state are more appealing to the backward caste Hindu population. The strong ideological stand taken by the communist party against Hindu communalists has erected a fierce opposition, most often culminating in political murders. For instance, in Kannur district where the CPI(M) prides itself in offering stiff resistance to Sangh Parivar, experiences violent political clashes in which nearly 180 people have lost their lives since 1980, a majority of them being CPI(M) and BJP-RSS workers.Therefore the ideological and violent resistance by CPI(M) create a hostile condition for BJP to evolve and expand in the state. Ideologically driven politics in the state also made it hard for BJP to form coalitions. In many states BJP has expanded its base through aligning with regional parties. Given the ideological moorings of BJP, congress cannot accept its national level arch rival and on the other hand communist parties on any account tolerate BJP. Between these two powerful political currents, the dilemma of the BJP is indefinitely continuing in the state.

These demographic features loom large in the discussion on the prospects for BJP. Several efforts by the Sangh Parivar to unify the Hindus and to consolidate the vote bank were hampered by the persisting, if gradually declining, influence and rivalry of caste associations, the NSS and SNDP. Caste rivalry among Hindus in Kerala persisted due to socio-economic factors, such as, high rate of unemployment, higher standards of education, caste based reservation policies, the attitude of various governments towards minorities All these situations were beyond the grip of either RSS or BJP and hence they could not develop an environment suitable for Hindu unity. While public attempts to deny distinctions based on caste were symbolically significant, they were not entirely successful in overcoming the widespread perception that the Sangh Parivar institutions catered primarily for caste Hindus. Both organizations traditionally support either UDF or LDF in elections and have never aliened behind BJP.

As these unfavorable conditions converge, there developed a practice of political untouchability towards BJP. Interestingly, as a perfect reflection of this political untouchability, political leaders in Kerala, fearing the charge of communal, strictly abstained from any harmless association with BJP in the recent election. Sharing a stage with BJP leaders even for a non-political function had also perceived as an inclination towards communal fold. The inauguration of a 'Run for Unity' - a commemorative event sponsored by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to mark the death anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – by the chief whip of UDF government was a heated discussion causing embarrassment to the government. Strict observance of political untouchability is maintained with BJP by all the parties, mainly due to the fear of losing significant minority votes. Absence of appealing leadership capable of breaking this vicious problem of untouchability contributed to the troubles of the party in Kerala.

Will Untouchability sustain? : Communal discourse in Kerala and prospects of BJP

Notwithstanding the small size, there are a number of distinctive social and political factors delineating the state of Kerala from other Indian states. The radical social and political reform movements and well organized communist party have created a politically aware public in the state. Language, geography and administrative apparatus generate a sub-national identity which is still evolving in the plural society. Historically, Kerala became the first destination in India for Christians, Jews, and Muslims whose descendants have added a cosmopolitan flavor to the state's 29 million people who are predominantly Hindu. The ‘cosmopolitan character’ of the polity and society is most often projected in the midst of active religious community organizations. Their contributions to social reform, democratic functioning, education, health care and social concerns have contributed to the development of a secular society.

Since BJP finds fertile ground for its growth in a communalized polity and the consequential consolidated Hindu votes, a critical scrutiny of the so called secular credentials of Kerala society deserves special attention in examining the prospects of the party in Kerala. Writing about the political development in Kerala, V.K Sukumaran Nayar, says that the politics of Travancore and Cochin region was dominated by interest-group based on caste and religion. The Mappila rebellion, an armed uprising in 1921 against British authority and Hindus as a response to the heavy handed crack down on the Khilafat movement in which ten thousand Muslims were killed, reflect the prevalence of communal patterns in the Malabar region too. Therefore, the coming together of various factions of the Kerala Congress (the party of Christian community), the merger of different factions of the Muslim League (political wing of Muslims) into one, and the much criticized appearance of a BJP- Hindu Munnani combine as a third front in 1980s are all unmistakable marks of a continuing legacy of the earlier communal hangover in the society. The liberation struggle against communist Ministry(1959), Anti Malappuram District agitation(1979) and Nilackal agitation (1983) contributed to the communal strain in the society even before the formation of BJP. VHP-led Ram Janmabhoomi campaign and Babri masjid demolition had its reverberations in Kerala too. The passions generated by such events contributed to a marked increase in clashes provoked by communal issues. Hence, Saji P Jacob who has done an extensive work on communalization in Kerala aptly questions the so called ‘cosmopolitan’ and ‘secular’ character of Kerala society :

“A closer look at the most recent of the political developments in Kerala suggests that there is also an emerging problem of an intensification of communalism too, primarily as a result of the prevailing socio-cultural practices. What is emerging here is the fact that the claims of democratization, rationalization or the agenda of socialistic or communistic transformation have not really brought forth with them any significant turn of events. On the other hand, ironically, what has really happened in Kerala is that the traditionalist communal loyalties have got further legitimized under the modern political process too.”

Therefore, the communal issues and discussions that popped up recently in the Kerala polity are an enlarged reflection of the underlying communal consciousness which was deeply ingrained in the Kerala society. This contemporary issues and discussions bring forth the discontent against disproportionate political and economic power enjoyed by non-Hindus into sharp focus. The dormant communal character of the Kerala society, especially the communal politics of Muslims and Christians, once thought to be harmless and accommodative are increasingly viewed with suspicion and animosity. Three recent examples well illustrate the situation.

There was an animated discussion in 2012 on how the decision of the Indian Union Muslim League, the second largest constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, to press its year-old demand for an additional ministerial berth (fifth minister controversy) will affect the communal balance. Several prominent Congressmen as well as leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the NSS and SNDP had opposed the move as it would upset the communal balance. The cry of communal imbalance is a response to the perceived over-representation of the minority communities in the present government. Of the 21 ministers sworn in, six, including the chief minister, were Christians and five Muslims. That made the minorities, which together account for 44 per cent of the population, a majority in the government. A fifth League minister will distort the picture further. B.R.P Bhaskar, a prominent public intellectual and political observer in Kerala, comments:

“The League's stubbornness and the Kerala Congress's support to it are manifestations of growing communal assertiveness, origins of which can be traced to the 'liberation struggle' of 1959 which gave the Centre the pretext to dismiss the Communist ministry. It is also a problem of narrow social base of the political parties. League and the Kerala Congress have narrowly constituted religious and region base.”

Secondly, the incident of detention of 579 children from northern and eastern States being taken to Muslim orphanages in Kerala without completing the legal formalities triggered a controversy. It was argued that the genuine mistakes or lapses on the part of the orphanage authorities in strictly following the legal requirements regarding such inter-State transfer of children were being blown out of proportion as part of an agenda to whip up a controversy since the institutions involved were under Muslim managements. Also, there were wild allegations that the incidents indicated dubious motives of child trafficking and that the children were eventually being exploited, that many of them were being indoctrinated or recruited by fundamentalist groups.

Third controversy was regarding the introduction of green writing boards in classrooms. A green writing board was installed in a government school in the Muslim dominated Malappuram district in northern Kerala. The writing board was introduced by a Muslim League MLA in his constituency as part of infrastructure development and with the support of the MLA’s development funds. This move kicked up a controversy in Kerala with members of other political parties, questioning the “ulterior motives” of the Muslim League and accusing the MLA and his party of trying to communalize public education.

These controversies which attracted wide discussions are not odd incidents. Several such discussions, whether original or manufactured, appear in the public with an unprecedented regularity and gradually steering a communal mind in the society in which deep suspicion towards minorities are grown. The allocation of seats to Kerala Congress and Muslim League in certain Christian and Muslim dominated constituencies is an established practice in Kerala politics. In the present congress led UDF government in which Muslim League and Kerala congress have strong influence, coalition constraints compel the congress to appease both the parties. At the wake of these series of recent incidences which attained communal color, these electoral practices and minority appeasement policies are now widely perceived as communal domination of Christian and Muslim community. BJP’s increased vote share in the recent general election has to be placed in this particular context.

In short, the conditions are favorable and facilitative for the saffron party. The series of intense and boggy controversies over communal agendas moulds a communally conscious and sensitive collective mind through which Hindu vote consolidation is a near possibility. The communal imprints ingrained in Kerala society even before its formation sharply resurfaces at the wake of these controversies against which the myth of cosmopolitan society is a weak defense. The uninspiring communist leadership which had compromised its secular agenda for temporary electoral advantages may hardly offer an enduring fight. As news channels arrange a third seats, along with UDF and LDF spokespersons, in their premium time political discussions, BJP gains a first-time recognition and respect. With the all powerful BJP government at the center, the enthusiasm and temptation for the party to penetrate to this tiny land at the corner can never be overlooked. Given the favorable external political climate and encouraging communal discourse internally, it is difficult not to speculate a promising prospect for BJP in Kerala