Antony Must Resign
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ch1ndr1n/petition.html
To: A K Anthony Chief Minister of Kerala India
In a recent public conversation with press persons Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr A K Anthony has accused Kerala’s minority communities of “cornering undue benefits through political arm-twisting”. He also accused the minorities of gaining financial clout through the earnings of expatriates working in West Asian countries thereby creating ‘discontent’ among the majority community.
By a sleight of hand Mr Anthony is now trying to transfer the blame, for the communal cartelization of Kerala, from elites of all communities to all members of any community so that these so-called “minority communities” existing only in Mr Anthony’s imagination can create havoc in the secular ambience of Kerala.
Mr Anthony’s statement only buttresses the poisonously communal environment being aggressively promoted in Kerala by the RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal fraternity through the blatant misuse of governmental power it has gained at the national level
The strategy seems to be that Karunakaran takes a hard-Hindutva stand and Mr Anthony’s faction a soft-Hindutva stand; and together both of them give a firmer foothold to the Sangh Parivar in Kerala.
Few instances are worth recalling.· When the educated youth of Kerala are asking for jobs and education for all, Mr Anthony has allowed Mr Praveen Togadia to distribute Trishuls to them, as he toured the state delivering inflammatory speeches threatening the minority communities.
· Mr Anthony’s handling of the communal situation in Maradu is another instance which shows where Mr. Anthony’s soft-Hindutva approach is leading him – into the lap of Sangh Parivar.
Communalism is by its very nature a very aggressive offshoot of ruling class politics and needs to be resisted resolutely, if we are concerned about avoiding its disastrous consequences for Kerala, our nation, our civil society and republican institutions. The fact that the murderers of Mahatma Gandhi have come to occupy the central government should be sufficient testimony to this.
Mr Anthony’s recent interventions in the recent past are in line with his personal political history whose political trajectory begins with his key participation in the most reactionary political event of modern Kerala, namely the ‘liberation struggle’, which has now culminated in the present coalition of communal forces dominated by elites of all communities in Kerala.
· Universal food distribution and universal education are two of the few pillars on which Kerala has erected itself as a unique space of social justice in South Asia. They have been seriously damaged under the assault of reactionary forces led by Mr Anthony.· We understand that Mr Anthony has now chosen Communal Harmony for which our state has earned national attention as the next candidate for killing.
Thus as a political leader whatever progressive role Mr Anthony donned has lost its sheen and his mission’s destructive character stands exposed.
We condemn in the strongest terms Mr A K Anthony’s above-mentioned statement, which we see as a mischievous attempt to divide the Keralites, both within India and abroad, along communal lines. Mr Anthony is trying to act as the Trojan Horse of the Sangh Parivar in Kerala.
We request all humanist and secular-minded individuals/organizations to append their signatures to this petition to demonstrate to the Snagh Parivar and their fellow travelers like Anthony in Kerala that we are here to stand and be counted in the struggle against communalism which is gravely threatening the integrity and sovereignty of our nation – India.