Dr Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao
It is not uncommon in India for the strange things to happen in the pre-election and election campaign time. The unexpected political coalitions despite the ideological differences, promising un-implementable things to the voters are very common. But this time around the way the ruling parties in the South Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are using religion of political gain baffled everyone. Cadres of CPM, DMK, are finding it difficult to defend the somersaults of their party top leadership on their pro-Hindu overtures and in turn question the need for an ideological compromise just to retain power. At present the cadre’s questions are not loud but as the campaign picks up and political rivals start taunting, they may pick up courage to challenge the top leadership of respective parties. Pinarayi Vijayan of CPM and CM of Kerala and M.K. Stalin of DMK and CM of Tamil Nadu may to answer many questions on their wooing Hindus in blatant open way.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu are going to poles in the first quarter of 2026 and the ruling dispensations in both the states are vying for a hat trick victory. The Left coalition (LDF) led by CPM broke the political tradition of Kerala by retaining the power in two successive elections. It never happened for along time as the voters of Kerala always preferred the ruling coalition to be replaced by the opposition led coalition. Reversing that trend the LDF won both 2016 and 2021 elections under the stewardship of Pinarayi Vijayan. In Tamil Nadu too the DMK, under the leadership of M.K. Stalin, scored successive victories and till recently was so confident of winning the peoples mandate for another term. But the current trend shows that both those rulers are not so confident of their third successive win and hence this U turn on ideological commitment.
CPM and other Left parties are confirmed atheists and DMK is a proclaimed rationalists. Surprisingly the atheist CPM led Left organised Global Ayyappa Sangamam on the banks of river Pamaba, near the shrine of Sabarimala. The CM Pinarayi Vijayan lighting the lamp and addressing from the podium bearing the Ayyappa deity displayed, and he reading from Bhagavat Gita during the speech and praising the ethical values imbibed by Lord Sri Krishna and the CMP cadre chanting Sabarimala Ayyappa names in public are all strange for those who know the history of CPM’s hatred for anything and everything connected with Hindu religion. The newly appointed CPM general secretary M.A. Baby in a written article tried to project the Pinarayi Vijayan government sponsored Ayyappa Sangamam as a secular act without any political intentions.
The DMK in the Tamil Nadu on the other hand is trying the appropriate the hugely revered Murugan by organising the Murugan festivals across the state. The Murugun temples, of which are six are important and famous, are given special priority in funding and renovation by ‘rationalist’ CM Stalin. The Stalin lead DMK is now projecting Murugan as Tamil God, who has nothing to do with Hindu religion. It is all an effort to come out of the outrage among the Tamil Hindu voters after Stalin’s son and Deputy CM Udayanidhi Stalin equated Sanatana (Hindu) Dharma with Covid19 and Dengue vires and expressed his owe to eradicate that just as the viruses are eradicated. This vituperative words has not gone well even with the DMK cadre who are devout Hindus, despite their support to DMK all these decades.
To get back the wounded Hindu communities in their respective states there was co-operation between CPM and DMK. The CPM government of Kerala invited the rationalist M.K. Stalin to be the guest at the Ayyappa Sangamam, a religious gathering of global bhakthas, and it was a positive response from Stalin but on second thought sent his ministerial colleagues to Kerala Hindu gathering. Ayyappa Sangamam show was a political necessity for CPM as the numerically dominant Hindu Ezhava community slowly gravitating towards BJP. Ezhavas form 23% of Kerala Hindu population and they were hurt at the way they were treated by the CPM government during the Sabarimala sanctity preservation movement, after Supreme Court ruled the entry of women into Ayyappa Temple. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election out of the 20 seats available in Kerala the CPM could win only one seat, the same number BJP also won thus throwing a challenge the Left. To get back the Ezhava-Nair Hindu communities back into their fold the CPM is using the communal strategy.
In Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin and his DMK is now making rounds to the Murugan temples with Stalin, his father late Karunanidhi photos featuring in each and every temple premises asking the devotees to go round in pilgrimage to all the six Murugan temples. In desperation to wipe out the established anti-Hindu image of his party, CM Stalin has brought out the old Tamil book written by his father M.K. Karunanidhi on the life of Vaishnavite philosopher Ramanujacharya and distributing it freely through out Tamil Nadu. M.K. Stalin is reportedly sent the instruction to the DMK cadre to visit Murugan temples and not only make offerings in kind but also collect the Prasad and distribute that to all the households. These are some of the ways designed for wooing the Hindus, who are sulking at the comments against the anti-Hindu diatribe of DMK leaders in the immediate past.
With the entry of cine hero turned political party founder Vijay, a Christian by faith, getting huge response in the public from the Christian converts the DMK has cracks in their traditional vote bank. The SC communities are under attack from the middle caste cadres of DMK. Tamil Nadu is the one of the few states where the untouchability is practiced visibly in the villages. SC communities complain of them not being made part of self-respect movement which gave political power to DMK. There is indication that the aggrieved SCs may gravitate towards the newly emerged leader Vijay. It is in this context that the Hindu votes became crucial for DMK and that was the reason for M.K. Stalin to shed his rationalism and atheism and turn Murugan devotee.
Both CPM and DMK are trying to fool the Hindu voters by displaying their newly found Bhakthi and whether the Hindu voters will fell prey to the gimmick of those two parties or revolt against them will be known by March 2026 slated assembly elections.
(Author is retired professor. Views expressed are personal.)
