KOZHIKODE : Nilambur MLA P V Anvar’s open revolt against Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM has brought to an end, at least for the time being, the party’s strategy of utilising individuals from the Muslim community to woo the Muslim vote bank in Malabar, which has been the solid base of the UDF.
Anvar has questioned the very secular credentials of Pinarayi by alleging that he has struck a secret alliance with the Sangh Parivar. The CPM was very careful in protecting its secular force to make the party endearing to the minority community and Anvar has questioned the base of the claim.
His allegation that Pinarayi and the RSS have struck a deal to protect the former’s personal interests is serious enough to strengthen the suspicion in the minds of the members of the Muslim community about the LDF government.
The CPM had succeeded in snatching some assembly seats from the Congress and the IUML utilising the influence of prominent and wealthy persons in Malabar. This includes P T A Rahim, K T Jaleel and Karat Razak from the IUML and P V Anvar and V Abdurrahman from the Congress. The support of the Muslim community helped the LDF in winning the assembly elections in 2016 and 2021.
But of late, the community developed some apprehensions about the sincerity of the CPM in addressing some of their issues, especially ‘the infiltration of the Sangh Parivar in the police’. The way the police acted in cases in which RSS workers were the accused strengthened the suspicion.
Anvar was quick to realise the disenchantment in the Muslim community. At the press conference in Nilambur on Thursday, he projected himself as the champion of the ordinary CPM workers and the minority communities, ‘who are at the receiving end of police actions’. His main allegation was that Malappuram police were deliberately increasing the registration of cases with the intention of branding the district in a bad light.