CPI(M) blames Congress-BJP stoked caste and religion identity politics for its poor showing in the local body polls - The Hindu

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Monday attributed its “unexpected” poor showing in the local body polls in some measure to a perceived surge in religion and caste identity politics stoked by the Congress, the BJP, and Islamist outfits.

CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan told a news conference that the propaganda that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was somehow complicit in the Sabarimala gold theft was a catalyst for disrupting livelihood and development-based political debate at the hustings.

He stated that the Congress and the BJP had no tangible issue to campaign against the government, forcing them to create a communally divisive narrative ahead of the ballot by harnessing revanchist forces across the religious spectrum for political expediency.

Mr. Govindan said the right wing corporate media helped the Congress and the BJP shift the political discourse away from issues concerning the working class to schismatic grievance politics centred narrowly around religion and caste.

Mr. Govindan said the cacophony drowned out the LDF government’s palpable track record, including radical infrastructure development, despite the Central government’s restraining fiscal levers, and a rapidly expanding social welfare net.

He said tactical cross-voting by the Congress and the BJP to diminish the LDF, CPI(M)’s organisational weakness in upscale urban neighbourhoods, and the party’s slackness in countering divisive propaganda by promoting broad-based development and livelihood politics, aided the Opposition parties.

Mr. Govindan cited the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation as a stark example of last-minute tactical cross-voting between the Congress and the BJP. “The UDF was relegated to a distant third position in the 41 divisions won by the BJP, he said.

However, Mr. Govindan claimed that the LDF, weighed down by nearly 10 years of incumbency, defied political gravity by significantly increasing its vote share in the local body polls compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

He said the LDF improved its vote share from 33.6% in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to 39.7% in the local body elections. The LDF maintained a clear lead in 60 Assembly constituencies. In most other segments, the LDF lost by “easily recoverable” thin margins.

Mr. Govindan said the local body poll results indicated that the Hindutva threat in Kerala seemed to be flatlining. Despite sharpening its focus on divisive politics by campaigning on issues of little public relevance, Mr. Govindan stated that the BJP’s voter share fell from 19.6% in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to around 14% in the local body elections.