Of late, mainstream political parties have been keeping away from micro issues, thus giving ample space for small political outfits to waltz in at will. Thus it has been the mandate of the Social Democratic Party of India and the Welfare Party to intervene when the locals felt discomfited by land acquisition for the GAIL pipeline in Malappuram and Kozhikode or threatened by the IOC setting up its LPG import terminal at Puthuvype in Kochi.
This has become possible as parties such as the Congress, CPM, CPI and BJP think that it is necessary for them to maintain a safe distance from such issues, lest they be seen as anti-development.Three days ago, a five-member armed group of Maoists made its presence felt in Wayanad when it demanded action against those responsible for the alleged suicide of Thavinjal Service Cooperative bank employee P M Anilkumar.
The group also threatened to publicly execute the guilty if justice was denied. Quick to sense a threat, the LDF government immediately called for a high-level meeting to discuss countermeasures to keep the locals away from the Maoists. And a decision was taken to pursue development projects in backward areas in Wayanad on a war footing.
The Kerala Police are a worried lot as this is the single largest incursion by the Maoists in the state after 2014, when a gang of nine suspected insurgents took up cudgels for the local people of Chalakudy. The gang vandalised a corporate office belonging to Nitta Gelatin India Limited in Kochi as the company’s plant had allegedly polluted the Chalakudy river.
The state cannot afford to have the Andhra-Nepal ‘Red Corridor’ extend itself to Kerala. The flip side, of course, is that the mainstream political parties may no longer be able to turn a blind eye to too many local issues. Any void they leave behind will be filled in by the likes of Maoists in double-quick time.