On 21 December 2024, A. Vijayaraghavan, a CPI(M) Kerala Politburo member, accused the victory of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency of being secured with the support of a “communal Muslim alliance.”
Speaking at the CPI(M) Wayanad district conference in Sulthan Bathery, Vijayaraghavan claimed, “Two individuals from Wayanad—Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi—won with the strong backing of the communal Muslim alliance. Without their support, could Rahul Gandhi have reached Delhi as the Opposition leader? Who were leading the processions supporting Priyanka Gandhi? The most extreme elements among the minorities were there, aligning themselves with the Congress leadership. It is clear that without the support of the communal Muslim alliance, Rahul Gandhi’s victory would not have been possible.”
Vijayaraghavan’s remarks echo a recurring strategy by CPI(M) to link the Congress with Muslim political organizations, a line of attack the party has employed since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. During this year’s elections in April, CPI(M) attempted to consolidate the Muslim vote in Kerala by emphasizing issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act and Palestine, though the results saw a significant loss of support from Hindu voters towards the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The party has since worked to regain the trust of Hindu voters, a shift that became evident in recent by-elections for assembly seats in Palakkad and Chelakkara, as well as the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. In these contests, CPI(M) targeted Muslim political groups, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accusing Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal of having ties to Jamaat-e-Islami, a hardline Islamic group. Vijayan argued that Jamaat-e-Islami’s influence within IUML threatened Kerala’s democratic system and posed a danger to the state’s secular fabric. The IUML is part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and a constituent of the national INDIA alliance.
Ahead of the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election, Vijayan had also sought to link Jamaat-e-Islami with Congress, claiming that Priyanka Gandhi’s candidacy was backed by the group, which he described as being “against a democratic system.”
(With Inputs From IE)
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