“This victory belongs to the people of Kerala. I thank you all for reposing faith in the LDF once again,” said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as he created electoral history becoming the first incumbent government in the state to be re-elected in decades. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 97 seats, United Democratic Front (UDF) 41; BJP scored Zero.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s first call after the massive win was to the people of Kerala to work together with their elected government to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic and “to take Kerala forward in the path of development, welfare and secularism!”

This victory belongs to the people of Kerala. I thank you all for reposing faith in the LDF once again. We need to come together more than ever before to tackle this pandemic and to take Kerala forward in the path of development, welfare and secularism!

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 2, 2021

The vote for secularism has resulted in a decisive mandate in favour of the Left Democratic Front, an alliance of Left-wing political parties. CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and his team of ministers are the first to retain power in the state. Vijayan also recorded his own historic win from the Dharmadom constituency. Kerala health minister KK Shailaja who gained worldwide acclaim for the way she handled the Covid-19 crisis in the state in 2020 and 2021, and the Nipah virus outbreak before that, won by a majority of over 61,000 votes from Mattannur constituency.  

Soon after the win, CM Pinarayi Vijayan attacked the BJP-led opposition alliance and told NDTV, that the LDF’s Assembly election victory was a symbol of  “Kerala’s rejection of religious divisiveness. The LDF has not just won it has gained six more seats to reach 97, leaving the UDF and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) far behind. 

Congratulations to Mr. @vijayanpinarayi on a historical consecutive victory in the Kerala elections.
Together we fought these elections and now together we will fight the battle against Covid!

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) May 2, 2021

BJP’s Biggest Losers

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was routed in the state it tried so hard to make a dent in, but ended up losing even in Nemom it’s only standing seat, to the LDF. As reported in Indian Express, the BJP only  managed to make a mark in five seats. This despite a campaign that was aimed at wooing ‘Hindu votes’, as the party leadership kept talking about things like the Sabarimala temple entry controversy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had raised the Sabarimala issue in his campaign, reciting Ayyappa chants, recalled news reports.

However, most of the voters did not buy the rhetoric and the saffron party got only around 11% of the votes. One of the biggest losers was the ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan, who seemed to have nursed chief ministerial dreams. He lost to Congress candidate Shafi Parambil. The other big losers was BJP state president K Surendran, who could win neither of the two constituencies he contested from, Konni or Manjeshwar. Sobha Surendran of the BJP also lost in Kazhakootam constituency, the winner was  Temple Affairs Minister Kadakampally Surendran. Vijayan told the media that “BJP leaders even said the party would form the government without getting a majority.”

According to the Indian Express this poor show of the BJP in Kerala is likely to trigger unrest in the state unit, as even the RSS had been directly involved in campaigning in several seats.

The PolitBuro of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued a statement hailing the “resounding victory of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala”. It thanked the people of Kerala for “once again reposing faith in the LDF and relelecting it to form the next government. This has happened after more than four decades that the incumbent has been reelected. The LDF’s performance has been better than in the last assembly election.”

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury saluted the people of Kerala and issued a video message, “I thank the people of Kerala for reposing faith in an unprecedented manner in the way that the previous LDF government tackled all the challenges that the people have faced and also the pandemic scourge. The government gave a Kerala model to the world on how to handle the pandemic.”

അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങൾ, കേരളം! #RedSalute #ലാൽസലാം pic.twitter.com/SAGaxD9pmU

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 2, 2021

Congratulations, Kerala! We will do our best to live up to the trust and responsibility you have vested in us. We thank the people of Tamil Nadu for giving our alliance an opportunity to work for them. (1/n)

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 2, 2021

CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat said “people of Kerala rewarded the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for their handling of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and the Kerala floods. He also highlighted that the pro-people approach of the government helped LDF in these elections.” He called this win a “significant victory as in the past 40 years no government was reelected for a second successive term. This shows that the people of Kerala have appreciated the performance of Pinarayi Vijayan-led government and the way it tackled floods in the state, the Covid-19 pandemic and remained committed to working for the people,” stated media reports.

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“Like Judas Betrayed Jesus Christ”: PM attacks Pinarayi Vijayan Government 

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Kerala: Left leader E A Sankaran returns to Congress, while Church leaders meet RSS

Medicos Naveen K Razak, Janaki Omkumar give some dance therapy to communal trolls

The post Kerala: LDF wins 97 seats, UDF 41; BJP score Zero appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kerala Assembly Election 2021, is just a week away, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has brought in its star campaigner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM was in the state to campaign for its star candidate E Sreedharan. The PM said both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), were the same and “only different in name”.

He said the people had now become aware of the “match-fixing” that he accused both sections of indulging in political backchanneling. He said, “For many years, the worst-kept secret of Kerala politics was the friendly agreement of UDF and LDF. Now, the first-time voter of Kerala is asking – what is this match-fixing? Five years one loots, five years the other loots,” said PM Modi, addressing an election rally in Palakkad.

However, it was his accusation that the LDF was “betraying Kerala for a few pieces of gold” like “Judas”, that made many sit up. It is the last week of Lent, the 40 days of fasting Christians observe till Good Friday, and the biblical reference was probably aimed at driving home a point of “corruption” etc to a section of voters. However, Judas had betrayed Jesus, hence it was not clear why the PM chose to use that as a reference to the gold smuggling scandal in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office has faced allegations. The Prime Minister was quoted by NDTV saying, “Judas had betrayed Lord Christ for a few pieces of silver… just like that LDF has betrayed Kerala for a few pieces of gold.”

E Sreedharan (88) is now the BJP’s most prominent candidate and the potential Chief Ministerial face of the state, where the party has so far failed to make much of a political impact. However, even the PM did not have much to bank on as far as the BJP’s ‘achievements’ or promises if it won in the state were concerned. Hence the PM played it safe and hailed E Sreedharan, the candidate from Palakkad as the “Metroman” who the PM called “a true son of Kerala, he thought beyond power, stood firm on his commitment to Kerala.” 

The PM also seems to have reached out to the first time voters of Kerala who he said were “very disappointed with LDF and UDF.” According to news reports, the PM claimed that the young voters of Kerala and professional communities were openly supporting the BJP because of its “forward-looking and aspirational” vision and the “trend” was “being seen across India.” He also coined the acronym “F.A.S.T” for the Kerala polls to refer to fisheries and fertilisers; agriculture and ayurveda; skill development and social justice; tourism and technology. Kerala goes to polls on April 6 and the results will be declared on May 2.

The Party’s manifesto released by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on March 24, promises a law to curb so-called ‘love jihad’ legal protection of Sabarimala’s traditions, governance of temples freed from party representatives, apart from free laptops for high school students, employment etc.

However the PM remained silent on the harassment of the two Catholic nuns, one of whom hailed from Kerala, and two other young women travelling together in a train, near Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month. The All India Catholic Union (AICU),  had called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take exemplary action against the vigilante group and the police personnel involved in the incident. The Chief minister of Kerala had also written to the Central government on the issue. The matter was also raised by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who during his campaign had said the criminals, “will be brought to justice.”

Related:

Freedom of Religion and Christian minorities in India

Ensure no double voting: Kerala HC to Election Commission

Kerala HC stays EC’s  order that halted rice distribution to non-priority ration card 

Nuns’ matter, no small matter: an open letter to Amit Shah

The post “Like Judas Betrayed Jesus Christ”: PM attacks Pinarayi Vijayan Government  appeared first on SabrangIndia.