An RSS-backed rally expected to cover the length of the State and culminate in the formation of a Hindu party kicked off on Monday in Kasargod – Kerala’s northern-most district.

Led by Vellapally Natesan, the leader of Ezhava outfit SNDP, the two-week Samathwa Munneta Yatra will end in the State capital Thiruvananthapuram on December 5.

Though Natesan has said that the rally is only aimed at consolidation of all Hindu castes on a platform of ‘unity of the majority community’, it is believed that the intention is to drum up support for Hindutva politics. He has also claimed that the yatra has nothing to do with the BJP.

The RSS has reportedly asked members of its feeder organisations to turn up along the yatra route in large numbers and offer greetings to Natesan and other yatris.

BJP’s blessings



BJP State president V Muraleedharan travelled to Kasaragod to wish the yatra success; though Natesan told the media that the visit was only to convey to him the message that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend an SNDP event on December 15. He said the yatra would accept the support of ‘any organisation, including the Sangh Parivar’.

Natesan has already said that the political party of the ‘majority community’ would be launched upon conclusion of the rally on December 5.

A 14-point agenda of the proposed Hindu party has also been announced.

Kerala’s third front



The new party is expected to be part of a ‘third front’ to be led by the BJP and will take on the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Party in the Assembly elections that are likely in April.

A BJP-SNDP tie-up



For the last 20 years, Natesan has been at the helm of the SNDP, the main outfit of the backward Ezhava caste, and has been pressing for an SNDP-BJP alliance ever since the party came to power last year. But the BJP, being a political party, could not formally have a political alliance with a ‘community organisation’, and has put the alliance on hold. However, during the local body elections held in early November, there existed grassroots-level cooperation between the two outfits.

The new party is reportedly being launched at the instance of the BJP’s Central leadership so that the two could form a front, and is being actively supported by the RSS.

Natesan has said the new party was not the political outfit of the SNDP, but a political initiative of those active in the organisation. On Monday, he said the yatra was not a threat to any particular community. Senior CPI(M) leader VS Achuthanandan, who has sharply criticised Natesan for taking the backward Ezhava caste to the BJP and Hindutva politics, lampooned the latter on Monday saying that when the yatra concludes in Thiruvananthapuram, Natesan would be sporting the ‘khaki knickers and white shirt’ (the RSS uniform). UDF leaders too have flayed Natesan for being a tool for the RSS tool to implement the divisive Hindutva ideology.