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The Hindu
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kerala Congress (M) looks to expand influence to coastal heartlands
Having long dominated the rubber heartlands of central Travancore, the Kerala Congress (M) led by Jose K. Mani now appears keen to carve out a fresh political constituency for it along Kerala's coastal belts. In a calculated move to strengthen its foothold among coastal communities, particularly the Latin Catholics, the regional party is seeking to tap into the wave of anxiety triggered by the Centre's Blue Economy Policy. Sensing an opportunity to build momentum, the Kerala Youth Front (M) [KYF(M)], the party's youth wing, will launch a Coastal Protection March that seeks to rally support across Kerala's shoreline. The march, to be inaugurated by party chairman Jose K. Mani, will begin from Kasaragod on May 1 and conclude at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram on May 9, covering 670 km over nine days. Traversing through nine coastal districts, the march will stop at 50 key points and seek to connect fishing villages and communities along the way. A series of public meetings will be held en route, with senior leaders including Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine and Government Chief Whip N. Jayaraj addressing gatherings to highlight the party's coastal vision. According to Cyriac Chazhikadan, president of KYF(M), the march will raise three major demands including enactment of a law granting sea rights to coastal communities, complete cessation of sea sand mining and immediate implementation of the recommendations made by C.A.D.A.L. (Coastal Area Development and Livelihood), an organisation under the Latin Catholic church. Party sources note that this initiative builds on a key demand raised by Jose K. Mani in the Rajya Sabha seeking sea rights for coastal communities, similar to the forest rights granted to indigenous groups. The rare public acknowledgment from the Catholic Church, hailing Mr. Mani's stance during the Rajya Sabha discussions on the Waqf Amendment Bill, has further bolstered the party's confidence in this coastal outreach. 'This should be seen as part of a strategic restructuring by the party, which has long balanced its traditional support from settler farmers with the evolving preferences of second-generation voters who are increasingly gravitating toward mainstream political parties,' observed a veteran Kerala Congress leader. He also attributes the move to a steady outmigration of the younger generation, particularly Syro-Malabar Catholics from central Travancore, causing a noticeable decline in the influx of young blood into the party.
India Today
25-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Why Munambam land row is a litmus test for BJP
Continuing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Christmas outreach, the BJP in Kerala used Easter Sunday to strengthen its engagement with the state's Christians, who have lately been assured the party's support in the ongoing row over Latin Catholic families facing eviction from a contested piece of land in Munambam claimed as a Waqf Chandrasekhar, the BJP's new Kerala president, visited George Alencherry, the former head of the influential Syro-Malabar Church who faces a money-laundering probe, at a parish in Thiruvananthapuram. Union minister and Thrissur MP Suresh Gopi doubled down the effort by meeting former Thrichur Archbishop Andrews Thazhath and Baselios Joseph I, head of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, in Kochi on Easter (April 20).advertisementCatholics in Kerala belong to three denominations—Syro-Malabar Church, Latin Catholics and Syro-Malankara Church—with each having a separate identity and their own Munambam, in Ernakulam district, the stakes are high for around 600 Christian families facing eviction from plots purchased from the Kozhikode-based Farook College in the 1960s. The Kerala State Waqf Board has staked claim over the land, measuring over 400 acres, after six decades. Many of these families are rooting for the BJP, but there is already some confusion among the protesters over Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju's stance on the land dispute. Rijiju reportedly remarked that a deadline could not be set to resolve the Munambam matter as it was sub Rijiju, Chandrasekhar told the media recently: 'His (Rijiju's) remarks were well-intentioned, and I believe the Munambam issue will be resolved once the [Waqf] law is implemented following the Supreme Court's ruling.'advertisementWhile his church has no stake in the Munambam land issue, Alencherry too has held out assurances that the row will be settled the state BJP, the challenge is ensure damage control and keep the Munambam issue alive till assembly polls next year. Christians account for over 18 per cent of Kerala's does Munambam see it all? Soni Mathew, one of the residents, told INDIA TODAY: 'The Munambam land issue may remain unresolved till the time the Waqf Board takes a magnanimous decision to surrender its claim. This may not happen under LDF (Left Democratic Front) rule. So both the BJP and the Congress will use the issue for electoral gains.'The state BJP is now trying to organise a meeting of representatives of the Munambam families with the prime minister. But this engagement has been postponed for now following the terror attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir. Some 40 Christians in Munambam have joined the BJP. For the party in Kerala, the target is Latin Catholics who, leaders believe, can help do well in the assembly segments in Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam in to India Today MagazineMust Watch advertisement
