THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The time is here again when political parties get busy reaching out to all major communities in Kerala. While even candidate selection is often done by analysing the demography and caste composition of a constituency, one community appears to be largely excluded from the electoral battlefield — the Nadars.
A caste group identified in the Other Backward Classes (OBC), who are present in at least 10 districts, according to researchers, the maximum representation they receive is often limited to a few seats.
T B Premjith Kumar, an associate professor with Christian College in Kattakkada, said the Nadars migrated long back from Sri Lanka to Tirunelveli, after which some of them shifted to Kerala. While they were initially concentrated on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, with a higher share in Thiruvananthapuram district, they eventually began migrating to other districts in search of jobs.
“Today, there are around 30 to 35 lakh Nadars in the state, who are spread across different districts and two religions — Hinduism and Christianity,” Premjith pointed out, indicating their conversion.
With Thiruvananthapuram having a slightly higher population of Nadars than other districts, a larger number of Nadar politicians found a footing here. One of the early prominent figures from the community is Neelalohithadasan Nadar, who served as the Thiruvananthapuram MP, representing the Congress, during 1980-84.
Neelan later resigned from the party and contested as part of Lok Dal in 1984, but was defeated by A Charles, another Nadar figure.
However, Neelan went on to win again and became a minister thrice, handling crucial portfolios like labour, sports, and transport. Another notable Nadar leader, N Sundaran Nadar, had also served as a minister and was the deputy speaker during 2001-06.
Former MLAs A T George (Parassala) and R Selvaraj (Parassala, Neyyattinkara) too are key figures in the list.
While most of them have nearly retreated from active politics, Congress’ Thiruvananthapuram district president and UDF’s Neyyattinkara candidate N Sakthan is an active Nadar politician, who served as the deputy speaker and later speaker (for a brief period) during 2011-16. Speaking on the seats given to Nadars for the upcoming elections, Shyam Laiju Nadar, the president of Nadar organisation Vaikunta Swamy Dharma Pracharana (VSDP) Sabha, said the NDA stands worst among the major fronts in this light.
“Even today, there are only two MLAs from Nadar community — G Steephen from Aruvikkara and K Ansalan from Neyyattinkara. While the LDF has fielded three Nadar candidates for the coming elections and the UDF two, the BJP-led NDA has fielded none,” he said.
“The political representation of Nadars itself came about because of political strategies taken at particular times, and not for the same cause,” said Neelalohithadasan Nadar.
However, he also noted that beyond the constituencies in the capital district — Parassala, Neyyattinkara, Kattakkada, Aruvikkara, Kovalam, Nedumangad, Kazhakkoottam, Nemom and Vattiyoorkkavu, Nadars do not form a sizeable electorate in many constituencies, hinting that this could also be a reason for the same.
Attributing this political under-representation to the lack of unity within the community, former Neyyattinkara
MLA R Selvaraj said internal feuds and attempts to link the community with the BJP have also affected their representation.