The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 seems to be achieving the impossible in Kerala. It has brought two arch-rivals—the ruling LDF and the opposing UDF—together against the CAA. The leaders of both the fronts took part in a joint-hunger strike. Now, both the fronts have come together against the hartal call by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Jamaat Islami's Welfare Party, against the CAA.
While the ruling LDF had opposed the hartal on the day of announcement, the UDF has now come out against the hartal organised by two parties with extremist character.
“The UDF is against the hartal call of SDPI and Jamaat Islami. It will be like walking into the trap set by the BJP. No UDF worker should support it,” UDF convenor Benny Behanan told THE WEEK. “If they are protesting against the CAA, the two parties should have joined the hunger strike organised jointly by the UDF and the LDF today,'' he said.
“Both the LDF and the UDF are on the same page on this issue and will not allow anyone to divide the people on religious lines,'' he said.
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IUML, a major constituent of the UDF, also rejected the hartal. “There is no need to organise a hartal now. That will only give more ammunition to the BJP,” IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty said.
CPI(M) state secretariat had slammed the hartal call, saying that any act of protest should unify the people rather than dividing them. “Any sectarian or schismatic protest would be akin to playing into the hands of BJP and the RSS,” it had said.
The leaders of Jamaat Islami and the SDPI, however, are not backing off from the hartal call. “We are going ahead with the hartal as it is within the democratic rights,'' said Muhammedali, leader of Jamaat Islami.
Anticipating possibilities of violence, the police have already declared the hartal “illegal”. “Nobody can call a hartal all of a sudden. The organisers have not given the seven-day notice, which is mandatory,'' DGP Loknath Behera said.
The possibility of violence is something both the LDF and the UDF anticipate as they fear that it would give an upper hand to the BJP-led Centre to corner the state and its people.
