KOCHI: The 2004 general election was unique in several ways in the history of Kerala. The Left front secured more seats than the Congress-led alliance in a Lok Sabha poll. The Congress failed to win a single seat in the state. The IUML failed to defend its stronghold, Manjeri. The BJP-led coalition won a seat in the state for the first time.
The LDF swept the elections, bagging 18 out of the 20 seats at stake. The remaining two seats were shared by the IUML which retained Malappuram, and the NDA that won Muvattupuzha.
Prior to this, the CPM-led front’s best performance was in 1996, when it touched the half-way mark winning 10 seats.
In 2004, the LDF clinched victory with 46.18% of the votes against UDF’s 38.46%. The BJP attained its highest vote share until then — 12.11%.
What were the factors that had contributed to the LDF’s massive victory? Looking back after two decades, several factors could be attributed to the stellar performance. Intense factionalism in the Congress, anti-incumbency factor against the then UDF government, meticulously selected candidates most suited for each constituency... There may be many more. But the one factor that stood out was the Muslim consolidation in favour of the CPM and its allies.
“The feeling against Chief Minister A K Antony for his anti-minority statement coupled with the insecurity feeling among the Muslim community after the Marad riots paved way for such a landslide victory,” said Sebastian Paul, who won from Ernakulam as an LDF-backed independent in 2004.
The internal fight in the Congress was also at its peak then, he said. The fault lines within the Congress was visible in the 2003 Ernakulam LS bypoll itself, Paul, who wrested the seat from the Congress in the bypoll, said. The byelection was necessitated by the demise of sitting MP George Eden. Then Congress president Sonia Gandhi rejected K Karunakaran’s claim for the seat and nominated M O John, a close aide of Antony. Subsequently, the factional feud between groups led by Karunakaran and Antony reached its peak.
“The phenomenon developed since 2003. Curiously, it was the Congress workers who were more interested to see the debacle of their party,” he said.
However, the political situation varied from one constituency to other. “I won with a margin of about 70,000 votes. But in nearby Alappuzha, Congress veteran V M Sudheeran lost by a slender margin of 1,000 votes. In Mukundapuram, LDF candidate Lonappan Nambadan defeated Padmaja Venugopal by a margin of over one lakh votes,” he said.
Besides Sudheeran, prominent Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Mullappally Ramachandran and Kodikunnil Suresh were among those who tasted defeat in 2004.
During a speech, Antony had stated that minorities should end their pressure tactics for political gains that had not gone down well with the Muslims, senior journalist P Sujathan said. “This backfired. Even Muslim League was against Antony,” Sujathan said.
Even though the Congress faced a debacle in Kerala, it had good news at national level. The BJP which looked invincible under A B Vajpayee was ousted from power. The Congress headed the UPA government, which ironically had the support of the CPM.