CPI(M) defeated the attempts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to communalise the ‘mutiny’ within the party in Ponnani against the candidature of CITU national secretary P. Nandakumar.
By sticking on to its decision to field Mr. Nandakumar, the CPI(M) wanted to show that the people of Malappuram, particularly Ponnani, are above communal parochialism.
The BJP had started campaigning to create an impression that Mr. Nandakumar was opposed because he was a Hindu.
BJP State president K. Surendran had set the ‘communal ball’ rolling when he said that ‘the situation was so bad in Malappuram that a Hindu cannot even contest in a constituency like Ponnani.’
Mr. Surendran also had said that the CPI(M) had transformed itself into the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Malabar.
“It’s ridiculous and unfortunate,” said T.M. Siddique, CPI(M) Malappuram district committee member.
A large group of people had taken out a demonstration in Ponnani two days ago seeking the candidature of Mr. Siddique in place of Mr. Nandakumar. The CPI(M), however, stuck to its decision on Mr. Nandakumar and convinced the protesters about the party decision.
CPI(M) local leaders in Ponnani said that there was nothing communal in the demand by a section for Mr. Siddique’s candidacy. It was only the demand for a local man, they said, describing the BJP attempt to make gains out of it by communalizing the entire matter.
CPI(M) district leaders said that the BJP was trying hard to inject communal poison into the minds of the people. They said the CPI(M) successfully parried the BJP attempt by selecting Mr. Nandakumar as the candidate in Ponnani.
Ponnani Assembly constituency, comprising the local civic bodies of Ponnani municipality and Alamkode, Nannamukku, Maranchery, Perumpadappu and Veliyamkode panchayats, has never elected a representative on the basis of their religion.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan has been the MLA of Ponnani since 2011. Ponnani had chosen Paloli Mohammed Kutty in 1996 and 2006, M.P. Gangadharan in 1977, 1982 and 2001, E.K. Imbichi Bava in 1991, P.T. Mohanakrishnan in 1987, K. Sreedharan in 1980, M.V. Hydros in 1970, V.P.C. Thangal in 1967, Cherukoya Thangal and K. Kunhambu in 1960, and K. Kunhambu and Kunhan E.T. in 1957.
The CPI(M) has a solid base in Ponnani, though the electorate had chosen the CPI(M) and the Congress alternately. After M.P.
Gangadharan’s victory in 2001, the Congress has not won in Ponnani.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) vote share in Ponnani was 48.91 per cent against the Congress’s 37.87 per cent and the BJP’s 8.23 per cent. The SDPI had only 1.17 per cent vote share in Ponnani.
