The Hindu : NSS policy may benefit NDA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 01, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

NSS policy may benefit NDA

By George Jacob

KOTTAYAM, MARCH 31. With yet another election around the corner, the Nair Service Society (NSS), which has perfected the art of political lobbying through the all-purpose doctrine of `equidistance policy', is once again in the process of polishing this potent weapon.

Surprisingly, as things stand today, it is not unlikely that the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, who had been one of the major beneficiaries of the policy, could be at the receiving end; and a surprise beneficiary could be none other than the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), at least some of its key contestants.

While the top brass of the NSS is tight-lipped over the changes taking place in its thinking, reliable sources close to the leadership are convinced that two major developments in recent times had contributed to a process of rethink on certain key factors of the policy of equidistance. First, the feeling of unhappiness over what they deem the extraordinary interest being shown by the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, in appeasing the senior leader, K. Karunakaran.

The NSS had taken a principled stance during the intense faction feud led by the Karunakaran faction which had called for ousting Mr. Antony. On many crucial occasions, the NSS was the only organisation the Chief Minister could fall back on, they point out. They believe that in spite of the fact that the NSS, as representative of the community, and Congress leaders belonging to the community, in addition to the coalition partners who supported him wanted to take a strong stand, the Chief Minister had gone out of his way to appease Mr. Karunakaran, making a mockery of the strong support that they had extended during the faction feud.

The top leadership is visibly unhappy over the moves by the Chief Minister and is keenly watching the developments on the candidates' selection front. The final decision on the stand to be taken during the coming elections would depend on the list, sources say.

Another development that went generally unnoticed was the thaw in the relationship between the NSS and the BJP in recent times. Gone are the days when the BJP was not at all in the consideration for benefit under the policy of equidistance. In fact, the policy was mainly confined to the realities in Kerala and only the two major fronts, the LDF and UDF, came under its purview, with the BJP being kept at a distance. BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, were not given permission to enter the NSS premises and the NSS leaders refused to pay even a courtesy visit to the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, when he was on a sojourn at Kumarakom three years ago.

During the past one year or so, senior leaders such as Padmanabha Acharya, O. Rajagopal and almost the entire State leadership have paid visits to Perunna. A few weeks back, the local BJP leadership, who were engaged in an unending war with the NSS leadership, came to the headquarters and celebrated their new-found bonhomie.

According to sources, the NSS leadership has come to the conclusion that the era of coalition politics has dawned at the national level and as such it would not be realistic to rule out constructive engagement with the NDA. Under coalition politics, parties unite under a common agenda and policies acceptable to all would be implemented. As such, certain areas where the NSS had differences with the BJP should not come in the way of extending the benefit of the policy of equidistance to the NDA, they believe.

According to the sources, the NSS leadership was keenly watching the developments and may come out with a policy statement at the appropriate time so that members of the community could express their franchise appropriately in the coming Parliament elections.

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