KOCHI: Last-minute deliberations, star entrants, internal grumbles and surprise picks dominated Congress’s general candidates finalisation. However, in contrast, the party’s choices in the 16 reserved constituencies — 14 for Scheduled Castes and 2 for Scheduled Tribes — remained largely under the radar, barring a few prominent names in the fray.
While community and caste equations may have been carefully balanced on paper, questions persist over “meaningful representation” within Congress-led UDF, according to social analysts. This is particularly striking for a party that has been seeking to project itself as a messiah of Dalits at the national level. This concern was underscored by the denial of seats to tribal community leader C K Janu and Dalit writer-activist Sunny M Kapikad.
There was a time when Congress commanded significant clout among SC/ST communities in Kerala, with tall leaders such as Vella Eacharan Iyyani, M P Thami, K K Balakrishnan, K Raghavan Master, Damodaran Kalassery, P K Velayudhan, K K Madhavan, T K C Vaduthala, Kittappa Narayana Swamy and Dr M A Kuttappan shaping its outreach and credibility.
However, current numbers underline its waning influence. Of the 16 reserved assembly constituencies, CPM currently holds 14. Congress managed to win just two — Sulthan Bathery and Wandoor. In the previous assembly, its tally stood at three.
Kapikad accused the party of having “no major criteria” other than being a member of the community while finalising candidates. “The socio-political orientation of candidates is not discussed,” he said, citing that his work and contributions to the community were not considered while denying him a seat.
Notably, Kapikad’s name had been doing the rounds in Vaikom, a reserved constituency. Earlier, C K Janu and her party, the Janathipathiya Rashtriya Party, which joined UDF, had demanded Mananthavady seat. That, too, went unheeded.
This, however, is not just a Congress problem. K V Padmanabhan, Kerala Pinnokka Samudaya Munnani president, believes that all three political fronts have failed to go beyond the ‘quota’ approach and groom SC/ST leaders to ensure equitable representation.
Notably, it was only in 2022 that the CPM politburo got its first and sole Dalit member — Ram Chandra Dome, a seven-time MP from West Bengal. And not many SC/ST leaders from Kerala, other than A K Balan and K Radhakrishnan, have made its central committee.
The BJP, meanwhile, has managed to gain support of a Kerala Pulayar Mahasabha faction. But though the party elevated Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind and ST leader Droupadi Murmu to the presidency, when it comes to power play in the state, few influential figures have emerged.
“Congress has the Dalit Congress, BJP has the SC Morcha, and CPM has the Pattikajathi Kshema Samithi (PKS). However, members and workers of these wings are not given prominent roles or responsibilities in the parties,” he noted. “SC/ST communities are not organised like the SNDP and NSS. That is a major reason for the lack of meaningful representation.”
Dalit activist-writer K K Baburaj also stressed that the issue goes beyond one party. “It is high time these parties, especially Congress and CPM, induct leaders of social movements and organisations working for the upliftment of marginalised communities,” he said.
“Of course, we cannot expect a sudden change within the organisational structures of parties. But such a system should evolve. Even in CPM, though it has many MLAs from these SC/ST communities, effective representation is still weak.”
According to Baburaj, the question of representation extends to other marginalised groups as well. “When major political parties fail to ensure adequate representation, it leads to the expansion of the RSS among these communities,” he said.