The Social Democratic Party of India’s decision to back the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha election has stirred a controversy, given the organisation’s allegedly clandestine empathy with the banned Popular Front of India. The SDPI has vehemently denied the accusations.
It has also triggered worry among a section of Congress leaders whether the SDPI’s public declaration of support will alienate the party’s traditional support base among Christians.
For one, Congress leaders believe that the trauma of the 2010 PFI attack on a college teacher on the charge of blasphemy arguably remains etched in the community’s psyche.
The Congress can perhaps heave a sigh of relief that SDPI State president Muvattupuzha Ashraf Moulavi has denied any tactical alliance with the Congress. “It was for the Congress to accept or reject SDPI’s backing,” he had said.
The Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front also attempted to read the political tea leaves in the SDPI’s decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala.
However, both fronts seem to have little to forebode. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the SDPI fielded candidates in 10 constituencies in the State but failed to affect the electoral prospects of legacy political parties.
Despite the stigma of its alleged association with the PFI, the SDPI has often been a coat for all seasons for opposing fronts. The LDF and UDF have not denied striking tactical alliances with the SDPI at the local body level.
However, the SDPI’s declaration of support has rendered the Congress vulnerable to criticism from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan termed the SDPI the latest entrant to the purported Congress-League-BJP (KOLIBI) cabal. LDF Independent legislator K.T. Jaleel dared the Congress and the IUML to say no to SDPI votes.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the Congress had no truck with any radical organisation that held extremist views. “Nevertheless, why should the Congress reject the belief that it was the sole bulwark against the Sangh Parivar?” he asked.
Mr. Satheesan said the CPI(M) viewed organisations through the prism of political expediency. “For one, the CPI(M) attacked the Welfare Party of India and the Jamaat-e-Islami as Islamist outfits after they backed the Congress against the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.”
BJP State president and the party’s candidate from Wayanad K. Surendran dared incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi to comment on “the patently anti-Christian PFI front organisation’s support” for the Congress.
