Catholic Congress slams Congress for alliance with Welfare Party in Nilambur bypoll

The Catholic Congress, a lay organisation of Syro-Malabar Catholics, has strongly criticised the Congress over its electoral alliance with the Welfare Party, the political arm of the Jamaat-e-Islami, in the Nilambur Assembly by-election, calling the move an open challenge to Kerala’s secular democratic traditions.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Catholic Congress alleged that the Congress has compromised on core secular values by aligning with a party “which is ideologically linked to religious fundamentalism”.

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The statement, signed by Catholic Congress Director Fr Mathew Thoommoolil, President Dr Chacko Kalampparambil, and General Secretary Shaji Kandathil, warned that such alliances risk legitimising extremism in mainstream politics.

In the statement, the Catholic Congress says by teaming up with the Welfare Party, “which is having global links to theocratic ideologies”, the Congress is undermining public trust and sacrificing its principles for vote-bank politics.

Terming the development a betrayal of the grand old party’s own legacy as a secular force, the Catholic Congress slammed the Congress leaders’ attempts to justify the alliance by pointing to the LDF’s ties with the PDP. The statement reminded the Congress that “one wrong cannot be justified by another”.

The Catholic Congress urged both the Congress-led UDF and the CPI-M-led ruling LDF to refrain from political partnerships that encourage communal polarisation.

The Catholic Congress asked the voters in Nilambur and elsewhere to see through “the duplicity of parties that publicly denounce communalism but privately engage with radical elements”.

In this connection, CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan on Tuesday said in Malappuram that the Jamaat-e-Islami’s political arm, Welfare Party’s unconditional support for the Congress-led UDF, highlighted the Opposition’s desperation to seek the help of fundamentalist outfits on either side of the religious spectrum to bolster its faltering and infighting-riven campaign. He said the UDF has lost the moral right to speak against communalism.

“The UDF has become an alliance of communal forces, and so it has no right to utter any word against communalism now,” MV Govindan said.

Responding to MV Govindan’s criticism of the UDF for accepting the support of the Welfare party, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan said that when Jamaat-e-Islami supports the CPI-M, it’s considered a secular organisation, but when it supports the UDF, it is suddenly labelled a communal party.

Satheesan pointed out that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Jamaat-e-Islami had held open discussions in the past. Those who once labelled Madani a communalist now have no problem in accepting PDP’s support. “The CPI-M practises double standards, constantly shifting its position like a chameleon,” Satheesan said.

BJP’s former Kerala president K Surendran has said that the ruling CPI-M–led LDF and Congress-led Opposition UDF are campaigning in Nilambur by playing the communal card.

Speaking to media persons in Nilambur, Surendran said both the LDF and UDF are trying to win the Nilambur bypoll with the support of communal and religious terrorist forces. The UDF has accepted the support of the Welfare Party, the political arm of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Pointing out the PDP’s support to LDF candidate M Swaraj, Surendran said the Left is in alliance with the Kerala edition of the largest terrorist organisation, the Islamic State.

Alleging that both the Fronts are nursing and pampering rioters and terrorists, Surendran warned that this stance will have far-reaching consequences in Kerala.