After Congress shut its door in Kerala, SDPI gets AIADMK backing in TN

Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) — the political arm of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) — has been in hot water ever since the Congress unit in Kerala publicly spurned its offer of support in the coming Lok Sabha polls, the other day, which is said to be a result of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using it as a major campaign topic in the north as the latest example of India’s grand old party succumbing to designs of radical Islam.

It has been two years since the Union government declared the PFI an unlawful association and banned it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The government claimed that the PFI was “prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty, and security of the country” in addition to being aligned with other terrorist organisations that are similar in perspective, like the Students Islamic Movement of India, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

PFI’s eight associate organisations, including the Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation, and Rehab Foundation-Kerala, were also banned. The only exception to the nationwide ban was the SDPI, registered as a political party.

As the controversy surrounding the SDPI’s decision to extend support to the Congress in Kerala continues to surge across the country, the party with questionable credentials is currently engaged in a fierce political battle in the Dindigul Lok Sabha constituency of central Tamil Nadu.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] candidate and eminent trade unionist R Sachidanandam, who has the combined support of Congress and Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK), is facing off against the state president of the SDPI, VMS Mohammed Mubarak, in Dindigul, a constituency with a sizeable Muslim population.

Mubarak is said to be engaged in a hard battle against Sachidanandam. While, the Congress and the CPI(M) are at odds with one another in Kerala over the approach to the same radical Islamic outfit.

Pinarayi Vijayan, a member of the CPI(M) politburo and the chief minister, was the first person to publicly express his opposition to the Congress’s “acceptance” of the SDPI’s support.

However, in Dindigul, both parties have joined forces with the DMK to combat the SDPI candidate, who is strangely running for election with the AIADMK symbol of two leaves.

A close partner of the BJP at the national level up until this point, the AIADMK was extremely critical of the SDPI, and it claimed divisive intentions that were intended to radicalise young members of the Islamic community.

In the past, the AIADMK remained close to “Hindutva ideology” and solidly supported the policy decisions made by the BJP. These decisions include the Babri Masjid, the abrogation of Article 370, which gives Jammu&Kashmir special status, and the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

When the party was in power in the state and J Jayalalithaa, the late chief minister, was promoting it, it also enforced a law that targeted Muslims by outlawing the slaughter of animals for meat.

On the other side, the AIADMK and the SDPI have asserted that all of those things are now things of the past and that there is no possibility of MG Ramachandran’s party returning to the fold of the BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Speaking to HT, Mubarak said that his party is pleased with the alliance with AIADMK because it will assist it in mainstreaming throughout the state.

However, the decision has caused animosity within the AIADMK cadre base throughout the state, particularly because it is the political arm of a radical organisation that is prohibited from operating.

According to Mubarak, his party did not move forward with the partnership with the AIADMK until after the latter had quit the National Democratic Partnership (NDA).

“We are not looking at the policies of the past; rather, we are looking at the policies of the AIADMK at present. If their allies’ history is unearthed, many parties will find themselves in a difficult situation. During the 1977 elections, the CPI(M) was the party that supported Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP,’’ said Mubarak.

In addition, he stated that he is running for office using the AIADMK sign because his party does not have a registered symbol.

“We decided to associate ourselves with the AIADMK when the party supremo, Edappadi K Palaniswami, reaffirmed that they were no longer affiliated with the BJP and were making every effort to move away from the narrative that the BJP had presented. When a major party leader admits that he has made a mistake and, upon realising the foolishness, severing ties with the BJP, we thought it was the right thing to do to join him and strengthen his hands,” said Mubarak.

P Velusamy, a candidate of the DMK, won the election from Dindigul with a significant margin in the previous election; nevertheless, Mubarak claims that Velusamy did virtually little for the constituency. This time, after taking over the seat held by CPI(M) in Coimbatore, the DMK decided to give Dindigul to the left party.

During the meeting, Mubarak appeared to have a broad perspective when describing the constituency’s developmental agenda.

“There is still a lot of untapped potential in the tourism industry in Dindigul. The Dhandayuthapaniswamy Temple in Palani, the Begampur mosque in Dindigul, and the older churches dispersed throughout the region are potential destinations for developing religious tourism. I suggest a Kodaikanal airport be established for restricted chartered flights to attract tourists from Palani, Dindigul, Madurai, and Rameswaram. It is possible to reopen the Munnar road so that farmers in Kodaikanal can transport spices to Kochi and get a good price for them,” he remarked.

“With help and support from AIADMK’s former ministers and cadres, I will win and bring about all these changes,” he states confidently.

Almost immediately after AIADMK was created in 1972, MG Ramachandran, the party’s founder, experienced his first victory in the Dindigul Lok Sabha constituency. In the very first general election held in the country, Ammu Swaminathan, a member of the constituent assembly and a leader of the Congress party, was elected from this constituency.

Natham R Viswanathan, a prominent leader of the AIADMK and a former minister, expressed his disapproval of Velusamy, the outgoing member of parliament of the DMK.

Viswanathan stated that Velusamy had not made any meaningful contributions to the people or the constituency during the past five years.

Viswanathan, in his attack on the DMK, stated that the DMK had not undertaken any actions that would benefit the people of Tamil Nadu. The people ought to support just the AIADMK, as the INDIA bloc is nothing more than a group of people looking for opportunities. In addition to this, he attacked the BJP, which claims to have not yet begun any developmental projects in Dindigul.

Mubarak stated that he has a complete comprehension of the problems occurring in the Dindigul Lok Sabha seat and that there will be no discrimination against any individual on the basis of their caste, community, or religion.

Sachidanandam, while speaking to HT, expressed his optimism about the likelihood of winning with a wider margin of victory by riding on the goodwill of the DMK-led secular alliance.

He stated that the average Muslim in the constituency would not consent to the nefarious plans of the SDPI or the opportunistic coalitions that the AIADMK formed.

When questioned about the PFI connections of SDPI leaders, Viswanathan asserted that AIADMK had allied with a legitimate political party that had not yet received a government ban.