Muslim parties' foolishness helps BJP in Karnataka, CPIM in Kerala

The political awareness created by Muslim dominant parties like Social Democratic Party of India and Welfare Party of India has proved to be beneficial only for communal forces so far in the region.

In Kerala, Popular Front of India and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India always consider the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) as their biggest rival. However, this time PFI and SDPI played a major role in the hat-trick victory of CPIM MP P Karunakaran in Kasaragod constituency.

Congress party's Muslim candidate and former Youth Congress president T Siddique, who secured 3,78,043 votes in Kasaragod was defeated by the CPIM candidate with a slight margin of 6,921 votes.

Had SDPI refrained from fielding its candidate N U Abdul Salam in Kasaragod constituency, a Muslim candidate would have easily defeated Mr Karunakaran. Division of Muslim votes played a crucial role in CPIM's victory.

In Karnataka's prestigious Mysore constituency too SDPI's foolishness and alliance with JD(S) resulted in the thumping victory of BJP candidate Pratap Simha, who had dedicated his journalistic career to promote Moditva and demonize Muslims in Karnataka. Mr. Simha polled 5,03,908 votes against 4,72,300 for Mr. Vishwanath and won by a margin of 31,608 votes. Chandrashekaraiah of the Janata Dal (Secular) polled 1,38,587 votes and finished third. SDPI had openly campaigned for the JD(S) candidate and had given a call to defeat Mr Vishwanath. On the other hand several JD(S) leaders, who were sure about their candidate's defeat had backed BJP candidate to defeat chief minister Siddaramaiah's closest ally.

On the other hand frustration of Muslim organizations in Bidar, where number of Muslim voters exceeds five lakhs, resulted in the victory of BJP candidate and political greenhorn Basvantrao Khuba against former chief minister N Dharam Singh of Congress.

The Karnataka Muslim Muttahida Mahaz (KMMM), an umbrella body of Muslims in Karnataka, had earlier demanded Congress to field a Muslim candidate in Bidar. However, when Congress refused to fulfill their demand many Muslims lost interest in polls. Moreover Welfare Party of India fielded its own candidate. The lack of collective decision among Muslims in Bidar ultimately helped BJP candidate.