With the Congress party all set to rule Kerala at the head of a United Democratic Front government for the next five years, the assembly elections in the southern state comes as a major morale boost to the tricolour party. The UDF returns to power in the state after a gap of 10 years through two terms of the LDF rule. Team UDF humbled the CPIM-led alliance. Notably, Kerala is the third state in the South where the Congress is now leading the government. The grand old party had won Karnataka, followed by Telangana, and would now also share power with the TVK in Tamil Nadu, where the Congress in alliance with the DMK won five seats. Put together, this is time for the Congress leadership to cheer as it has been languishing in the sidelines across many states in the north, the west and the east. The South would now be the launch pad for the party to try and improve its prospects across states, also because a party of such a stature cannot function without funds. Being in government is a guarantee to funds that would oil the party machinery.
The victory for the Congress-led front in Kerala was achieved by a strong backing from the minorities – the UDF’s traditional allies being the Muslim League and the pro-Christian Kerala Congress groups. Outgoing chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s attempt to balance this with a Hindu consolidation proved counter-productive for the Left. Every section of the population turned against his personalised style of rule even as the LDF government implemented several welfare schemes and helped the needy sections with free ration kits etc. Feelings strengthened that the Communists had no developmental agenda. The chief minister’s attempt to draw investments to the state failed as Kerala, like West Bengal, held an image of trade union militancy. The huge sums that NRIs sent to the state from the Gulf, the US and elsewhere remain locked in their bank vaults as not many dared to start an enterprise due to the unfavourable social and political scenarios. As a result, for many years, educated youths fled the state by their millions to find jobs in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru or the Gulf. The collective disenchantment of the people against the LDF government helped the Congress to regain power.
The BJP proved yet again that it has no major stakes in much of the South. Yet, the party won three assembly seats in Kerala, where it had no seat in the last assembly. In Tamil Nadu, it won just one seat. The saffron party has substantial hold over Karnataka, where it is the principal opposition, but the other southern states are failing to warm up to its style of religion-oriented politics. At one time, they hoped to wrest power in Telangana, but the Congress outwitted them and grabbed power from the BRS. In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP is a part of the Telugu-Desam led government, but has no significant clout of its own. What works for the BJP to an extent in the South is the Modi aura.
