Politics
Kerala has a unique position in India as one of the most politicized states. It has the nation's largest politically aware population, which actively participates in state politics.
Politics in Kerala are dominated by two political fronts: the Communist party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. These two parties have alternated in power since 1982. According to the 2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly election results, the UDF has a majority in the state assembly (72/140).
The political alliance has strongly stabilized and, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners maintain loyalty to the alliance. As a result of this, power has alternated between these two fronts since 1979.
In terms of individual parties, the state has a strong leanings towards socialism and thus Communist parties have made strong inroads in Kerala. The Malabar region, particularly Kannur and Palakkad, are considered the heartland of the Communist parties. The Kollam and Alapuzha districts, where trade unions have a strong presence, are generally inclined to Left parties, though several times the UDF has won. The largest Communist party is the CPIM and the second largest is the CPI
The Indian National Congress, which leads the UDF coalition, has had a very strong presence in Kerala since pre-Independence days. The Congress party has great popularity in the Thrissur, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram regions.
Other popular regional parties are
- The Kerala Congress, which has more than 4 denominations after breaking away from the original party. It has strong influence among settlement populations in Hilly regions. The various Kerala Congress denominations are primarily patronized by the Orthodox Christian community and Nair populations, mostly in Central Travancore areas like Kottayam, Iddukki and Pathanamthitta. Today, most of Kerala Congress parties are with the UDF.
- The Indian Union Muslim League is a powerful pro-Muslim community-oriented party, which was started as the Muslim League prior to Independence, yet decided to transfer their allegiance to the Indian Union after Independence, when the original Muslim League went to Pakistan. The IUML-Kerala unit is the only Muslim League group to declare its allegiance and loyalty to India and hence become a state party in post-Independence India. The party has strongholds mostly in Muslim-dominated districts like Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kasargod. They form the second largest party within the UDF.
- Socialist groups, consisting of several small fragmented parties like the NCP, SJD-S, JDS, and Congress-S, are mainly pro-center-left socialist parties having very limited influence in a few pocket areas. Most of the socialist groups are with the LDF, though in a few instances, some of them changed their loyalties to the UDF.
- Communist parties consist of various groups which have broken away from the CPIM. They are mostly center-left parties, though a few are extreme-left. While a few center-left parties like the RSP have joined with the LDF, those that broke away from the CPIM, like the CMP and JSS, led by erstwhile CPIM veterans who were expelled from CPIM, have joined with the UDF.
Read more about this topic: Government Of Kerala
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Political organizations have slowly substituted themselves for the Churches as the places for believing practices.... Politics has once again become religious.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“I played by the rules of politics as I found them.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)