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Tharoor caught in caste cauldron in Trivandrum

Flex boards listing numerous projects the sitting MP claimed to have brought to Trivandrum had appeared in every nook and corner of the constituency even before the candidature of Shashi Tharoor was officially announced by the Congress.

The diplomat-turned politician, who tried to fight the election on the strength of his performance, however, changed gear when the candidate line-up in the constituency became clear. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding a Nair and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) a Nadar as candidates, Tharoor realised that caste will be the major deciding factor in the constituency.

Soon after the Congress cleared his name, Tharoor dashed to the Nair Service Society (NSS) headquarters at Changanacherry and sought the blessings of its general secretary Sukumaran Nair, who holds sway over nearly 375, 000 Nair votes in the constituency.

BJP nominee O Rajagopal is a strong favourite of NSS as a ‘Deshi’ Nair. The NSS had earlier refused to give Tharoor the Nair stamp as they considered him a Delhi Nair.

Though Tharoor had a Nair rival in his debut in 2009, he was able to comfortably win the seat by a margin of 999,998 votes with the help of Nadar votes numbering about 400, 000.

But the Communist Party of India (CPI) has refused to allow him an easy walkover this time by fielding Dr. Bennet Abraham, a Nadar close to the Church.

The CPI, which is a strong votary against caste politics, set aside the ideology and went for Nadar candidate.

The party learnt the lesson in a hard way in 1980, when it’s stalwart and sitting MP, M N Govindan Nair was drowned by an ordinary Nadar candidate of the Congress by a massive margin of 107, 057 votes.

Though a Nadar candidate was present in the fray in 1989, Tharoor had found the going easy because he belonged to BSP, which has no roots in the state. The scene is different this time with Bennet Abraham, a member of the Church of South India (CSI), trying to consolidate the Nadar votes.

Tharoor’s attempt to cut into his forte has landed him in trouble. The BJP has moved the Election Commission against a meeting of 60-70 pastors of the community he called at his residence on Sunday. The BJP has termed the ‘communal’ canvassing of votes a violation of the model code of conduct.

Apart from the caste factor, Tharoor’s international image and his chances to become a minister at the Centre had also helped him in easily defeating P Ramachandran Nair of the CPI in the 1989 election.

The BJP has also tried to blunt these advantages by projecting Rajagopal image as a clean leader and his bright chance to emerge as a minister if the BJP comes to power under Narendra Modi.

news@khaleejtimes.com