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UDF plans last-ditch battle against Kerala government

The United Democratic Front in Kerala is making yet another attempt to mould itself into an effective opposition against the 27-month-old Communist-led government of Chief Minister E K Nayanar.

The past attempts by the Front to launch a joint agitation against the government met with little success owing to internal squabbles. While the Congress, which heads the UDF boat, has been busy fighting its faction war, its partners walked their own paths. The Indian Union Muslim League, which is the second largest constituent of the UDF, has been trying to befriend the Communist Party of India-Marxist for its own reasons.

The official reason advanced for such a course is that the party was keen to form a broad alliance of democratic and secular forces, including the Left parties, to fight the fascist forces, aka the Bharatiya Janata Party. But the grapevine has it that such a line was being adopted at the instance of certain senior leaders involved in some criminal cases. For example, there is a hue and cry for the arrest of IUML legislature party leader P K Kunhalikutty for his alleged involvement in the notorious Kozhikode sex case.

It is no secret that the party is not at all comfortable in the UDF fold, but its way to the Left Democratic Front is not easy either. The CPI-M, which heads the LDF, still considers the party an untouchable as it has serious reservations about its secular credentials. A section of the party even does not mind changing the nomenclature of IUML to suit the secular demands of the CPI-M. Kunhalikutty, obviously, did not oppose the idea and said there could be a debate on the matter.

IUML president Panakkad Mohammad Ali Shihab Thangal, however, said no to any such venture at this stage, even though he felt the need for a joint front against the BJP.

The IUML has been the biggest stumbling block for any joint agitation against the government. It not only torpedoed such moves, but also went ahead to cooperate with the government in certain areas, where its allies dare not touch.

UDF convener K Sankaranarayanan put up a brave front on the new move by the opposition to launch a joint agitation against the government. Talking to newsmen after the high-power committee meeting of the UDF in Thiruvanthapuram on Tuesday, he said the UDF will meet on August 27 to chalk out its plans of agitation.

He sought to underplay the inter-party and intra-party problems in the UDF, saying the Opposition was so far playing a constructive role as part of a new political policy. "We wanted adequate time to be given to the government to put its act together. We gave them 27 months, but they have failed to solve the problems of the people. The truce is over. We will adopt an aggressive posture against the government from now onwards," he said.

Shankaranarayanan said the high-power committee meeting has identified several areas to be highlighted during its agitation. The issues include price rise, fall in the prices of cash crops including rubber, discriminatory police policy and failure of the government in protecting the interest of the states.

His words will in fact will be taken with a pinch of salt in Kerala because it had to put off its earlier plans for agitation against the government owing to lack of support from within. Senior Congress leader K Karunakaran has been bemoaning that the Opposition had failed in its duty. He had even doubted the capacity of Opposition leader A K Antony to lead the UDF.

Some of the UDF constituents had blamed the Congress for this state of affairs. The failures of the party in all the six by-elections held since the general election in 1996 makes them doubt whether they will be able to come through in the next election due in 2001. The present move to sharpen its attack on the government apparently emanates from such a fear.

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