While Congress Trades Ward Members, CPIM/LDF Stands Against Communal Forces in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The recent upheaval in Mattathur Panchayath lays bare how both Congress and BJP have reduced grassroots democracy to a mere marketplace, where ward members are treated like commodities to be bought, sold, or traded for short-term political gain.

The Mattathur incident also throws light on broader electoral patterns in Kerala, particularly the distribution of power in local bodies. BJP/NDA’s victories in recent elections show that CPIM/LDF remains the main force contesting them, while Congress frequently trails behind. In Grama Panchayats, BJP/NDA won 1,445 seats, with CPIM/LDF coming second in 815 contests, indicating that over 56 per cent of BJP victories were fiercely contested by the Left. In Block Panchayats, BJP/NDA secured 54 seats, with CPIM/LDF finishing second in 34 contests, representing nearly 63 per cent of closely fought battles. In Municipalities, BJP/NDA won 324 seats, with CPIM/LDF as runner-up in 148, and in Corporations, out of 93 BJP/NDA victories, CPIM/LDF trailed in 63 contests, accounting for 67.7 per cent. By contrast, Congress’s performance as a challenger remains limited, underscoring its marginal role in effectively countering BJP’s rise.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the incident, highlighting Congress’s failure to enforce discipline and its willingness to collude with BJP councillors to topple the Left Front. According to him, such manoeuvres reveal a hollow commitment to secular politics, while BJP’s opportunism in exploiting defections reflects a strategy of inching into Kerala through backdoor deals rather than securing a genuine public mandate. What unfolded, he argued, was not a democratic transition but a betrayal of voters, eroding trust in local governance.

Pinarayi Vijayan drew parallels with earlier large-scale defections, noting that in 2016, 43 of 44 Congress MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh switched to the NDA overnight. Similarly, in Puducherry in 2021, Congress members facilitated BJP rule despite having no elected MLAs, and in 2019, the entire Congress legislative party in Goa merged with the BJP. "The Mattathur case is the latest chapter in Congress’s long-standing strategy to manipulate electoral outcomes and provide a base for the Sangh Parivar’s ambitions,' he added.

The Chief Minister’s remarks forced a response from Congress leaders, who insisted that none of their members had actually quit the party or joined the BJP. Opposition leader V D Satheeshan echoed this, emphasising that Pinarayi Vijayan’s accusations were unverified. However, DCC President Joseph Tadget confirmed that those involved would face disciplinary action, including legal steps to remove them from their positions. The conflicting statements highlight the party’s internal contradictions and the challenges it faces in curbing defections at the grassroots level.

Taken together, the Mattathur episode signals that the “currency politics” long experimented with by BJP in northern states is now seeping into Kerala’s local body elections. Mattathur appears to be just the tip of the iceberg in a wave of horse-trading, leaving voters who entrusted Congress with upholding democratic norms blindsided when allegiances shifted overnight. For those Congress members, there seems to be little remorse in flipping loyalties at the drop of a hat. Amid this turbulence, the Left Front continues to stand as the bulwark against BJP’s expansion in Kerala, defending its ground from the roots up, while Congress’s internal fissures and opportunistic manoeuvres risk reducing it to a facilitator of political expediency, inadvertently clearing the path for BJP consolidation in the state.