Saturday, May 17, 2014

The Gandhian guns of Ayemenem

Arundhati Roy has a sterling reputation as a relentless fighter against upper-caste fascists (and also George Bush) but just right now, looking across the length and breadth of India, it would be hard for her not to feel a bit disappointed. Her homeland in God's own country however is a silver lining and that should at least give her satisfaction. She should now turn her mighty pen into a (Bofors??) howitzer as the battles rage between the forces of enlightenment and darkness.

Kerala as an unit is 100% literate and social indicators come up to (East) European levels, the only out-standing boy in the class being the muslim belt of Malappuram (aka mini Pakistan). There is an enduring bond with the Gulf countries (where perhaps as many as 25% Malayalis are employed), and strong gusts of Wahabi winds are frequently blowing across the state. The Christians with their booming rubber plantations and all pervasive network of educational institutions play a dominant role as well. The Hindus are rumored to be actually a minority of the population and this trend will accelerate as the muslin population grows (but not the Christians).


The results have been eminently predictable. While a Tsu-Namo reached out to all corners of the country, with the BJP tally greater than or equal to that of the DMK (Tamil Nadu), Left Front (Bengal), and Congress (Axom, Kashmir), Kerala stands out loud and proud as the anti-India, the place where Hindus have lost their consciousness and are unable to mobilize even under the most favorable conditions. Indeed, in the Hindu stronghold of Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP lost against a man who stands publicly accused by his wife of being involved in malpractice before she died an untimely (and convenient) death at the hands of an (unknown) assassin.


The only flicker of hope (for the Hindus) lies in the fact that the Left Front (and its Ezhava shudra voting base) is slowly (but surely) disintegrating. The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) has left the Left and joined hands with the Congress. Even more significant (in our opinion) is the fact that a communist star defected and joined the BJP (but still lost by 3 Lakh votes). Girija Kumari is 1965 born (Roy is 1961 born).  

It is an unique aspect of Hindu mythology (which makes liberals like Amardeep Singh rather uncomfortable) that a woman's place is at the head of the army (which destroys the invincible demon or the ashura). In the coming days we fully expect Girija and Arundhati to engage in full-scale war in order to establish a Varanasi or a Jerusalem by the Arabian sea, the Gandhian guns of Ayemenem booming mightily against the feeble Trishuls of the RSS. Let the battles begin in full earnest.
..
The BJP has increased its vote share in Kerala by nearly 4% this Lok Sabha polls, up from 6.4% in 2009 to 10.3%. During the 2009 elections, the party contested from 19 constituencies and managed to secure 10,11,563 votes. This time around, however, BJP fielded candidates in 20 constituencies and managed to garner 18,56,750 votes in Kerala.

With an increase of 8,45,187 votes, there were some constituencies where BJP's candidates performed better than expected, especially (as expected) in Thiruvananthapuram where the BJP candidate, O Rajagopal, lost by small margin of 15,470 votes to Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor.

In Kasaragod, where Modi campaigned for BJP candidate K Surendran, there was a marked increase by 47,344 votes. In 2009, Surendran managed to get only 1,25,482 votes, while this time it went up to 1,72,826 votes. Repeat candidate A N Radhakrishnan from Ernakualm constituency managed 46,035 more votes than in 2009.

In Attingal, S Girija Kumari, who defected from the CPM and was one of the two women candidates fielded by the BJP, performed considerably well and managed to capture 90,528 votes but lost to CPM's A Sampath by 3,01,950 votes. Girija Kumari's performance was much better than their 2009 nominee Thottakkad Sasi, who managed to secure only 47,620 votes.

In Kozhikode, C K Padmanabhan received 1,15,760 votes, a small increase from what the current BJP state president V Muraleedharan managed back in 2009 (89,718). Overall, the BJP managed to get at least 20,000 more votes than 2009 in constituencies such as Kannur, Vadakara, Malappuram, Ponnani, Alathur, Thrissur, Chalakudy, Idukki, Mavelikara, Kannur, Kollam and above 50,000 votes compared to 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Palakkad and Pathanamthitta.

.....................
regards

No comments:

Post a Comment