Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – In the third phase of India’s polling on Thursday, about 24.3 million Keralite voters will cast their votes to elect 20 members of parliament from among a total of 242 candidates, including 27 women.



This time, elections in Kerala have gained special significance on various counts. Kerala is one among a couple of states where India’s ruling Congress Party pins great hopes on winning a sizable number of seats.



Opinion polls predicted a little edge for the Congress-led United Democratic Front over the CPM-led Left Democratic Front in the state. As for the Left Front, its expectations at the national level are also mainly depending on its performance in this small state, which constitutes only about one percent of the total area of the country.



Paradoxically, Kerala would be one of the few states where the main opposition party of BJP, which is poised to become the largest single party in the elections, would fail to open an account this time also.



During the month-long election campaigning, which ended Tuesday, most of the national leaders addressed the voters in the state. They included Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vice President of the Congress Party Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of CPM Prakash Karat, the Hindu nationalist BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, in addition to senior leaders from the state, such as India’s Defense Minister A.K. Antony, Kerala’s Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan.



There are at least half a dozen Indian ministers in the fray in the state. They are K.V. Thomas, E. Ahamed, Shashi Tharoor, Mullapally Ramachandran, K.C. Venugopal and Kodikkunnil Suresh. Other senior leaders contesting elections include P.C. Chacko, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that examined the 2G spectrum scandal, leading actor Innocent, veteran politician and media figure M.P Veerendra Kumar and prominent Muslim League leader E.T. Muhammad Basheer.



There are about 800,000 Keralites working in Saudi Arabia alone, in addition to an equal number in other GCC states. Even though their hopes of casting their votes through Internet from overseas were shattered despite the recent intervention of the Supreme Court, their enthusiasm in the election process was still high.



Thousands of Keralites, whose names figured in the electoral roll, have already left for their state to cast their votes.



An overwhelming majority of expatriates are keenly watching the election process back home. They actively took part in live discussions and debates over the future of their country, which is facing a potential threat posed by the Hindu communal fascist forces, led by Modi. The Hindu nationalist communalism versus secularism has taken centerstage in the debates.



Addressing these meetings, the expatriate community leaders urged voters to cast their ballots in favor of secular forces and prevent the Hindu nationalist forces from power. They ridiculed the so called ‘Modi wave’ as a media hyped corporate propaganda. Some of them blasted the inefficiency and corruption of Congress for giving the BJP an upper hand in the campaigning while others underlined the need for strengthening secular forces by backing Congress, the biggest secular party in the world’s largest democracy. 



One such debates was organized by Jeddah Navodaya Youth Forum. The panel discussion on “Youths and 16th Lok Sabha” was lively with divergent views of the debaters.



Taking part in the discussion, V.K. Rauf, patron of Navodaya, urged voters to defeat the tainted Congress party in the elections. Reacting to it, Abdul Majeed Naha, president of the Jeddah committee of Overseas Indian Cultural Congress (OICC), said that Congress is still the only viable alternative to the BJP-led Hindu nationalist forces. Kunhavutty A Qader, president of the Saudi National Committee of Indian Muslim Cultural Center, said that Congress party is going to lose the election due its own failures and clandestine understanding with the corporate businesses against the interests of the ordinary people. A.M. Sajith, a journalist, said that ‘paid journalism,’ which is more evident in the ongoing elections, is a grave threat to democracy.



The panel discussion, called ‘Pormugham’ (battlefield) was inaugurated by Nawas Vembayam, general secretary of Navodaya. Shibu Thiruvanandapuram, president of Navodaya, presided over the function in which Basheer Aripra delivered the welcome speech and Shameer Perambra gave a vote of thanks. C.K. Shakir, JiJi Mohan, A.P. Abdul Ghafour, Naseer Nuruddin, Rasheed Kolathara, Jumail Abu and Jasmin Abdurahman also took part in the discussion.



The debate titled ‘Nerkkuner’ (face to face), organized by the Kondotty Committee of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center (KMCC) was another major function. Pazheri Kunhimuhammad inaugurated the debate on the topic of “Elections to 16th Lok Sabha: Expectations and concerns.”



Presenting a paper on the topic, Abubacker Arimbra, general secretary of Jeddah KMCC, called on Indians to vote for the Congress-led UPA to prevent the Hindu Fascist forces from coming to power. V.M. Ibrahim, executive editor of Gulf Madhyamam, said that a section of the Indian media is trying to influence the voters with a political agenda, dictated by some corporate businesses.



V.K. Rauf said that a non-Congress and non-BJP third front will come to power in the country while K.C Abdurahman, vice president of OICC Jeddah central committee, stressed the need for electing Congress to power for a third time so as to allow it to continue implementing popular reform packages.



He specially highlighted the Food Security Act, Right to information Act and minority welfare schemes of Manmohan Singh government.



In his speech, P.P Raheem, general secretary of New Age, alleged that the economic policies of both Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi are one and the same. C.K. Shakir, secretary of KMCC Jeddah central committee, claimed that Muslim League party’s national leaders — E. Ahamed and Muhammad Basheer who are contesting from Malappuram and Ponnani constituencies respectively — will win with a record majority from the bastion of the party and the Congress-led alliance. Rayin Kutty Neerad, secretary of KMCC national committee, delivered the concluding speech in the function chaired by M.K. Noushad, president of KMCC Kondotty. K.N.A Latief welcomed the gathering while K.P Abdurahman Haji gave a vote of thanks. Bashir Thottiyan was the anchor.



Another function focused on an anti-graft India was inaugurated by Hameed Vaniyambalam, president of Kerala chapter of Welfare Party of India through an online address. In his keynote speech, Prof. Reynolds Ittop, chairman of the ‘Pravasi’ Cultural Forum (PCF), underlined the need for defeating pro-corporate political parties which are not keen on protecting the interests of the ordinary people. Ismail Kallai, convener of the Jeddah ad hoc committee of PCF, Shyam Govind, vice chairman of PCF, Mehboob Pathapiriyam, Usman Pandikkad, Fasal Muhammad, Aju Savier, Shanavas Wandoor, Umar Abubacker, C.H Basheer, C.N.K. Nasar, Shakir Hussein, K.M Abduraheem, Sajid Parakkal and Alavikkutti Thurakkal also spoke on the occasion. 



Indian Islahi Center Saudi National Committee urged the Indian voters to use their vote judiciously to prevent the Hindu nationalist forces from coming to power. The general body meeting of the center held in Madinah called for strengthening the secular forces by uniting votes of all sections of the society, especially minorities.



President Dr. Muhammad Farouq presided over the meeting in which Kerala Nadvatul Mujahideen Secretary M. Abdurahman Salafi delivered the keynote speech.