Thiruvananthapuram: The run up to the 2026 Kerala assembly polls is uniquely defined by communal narratives. The allegations and counter allegations on communalism have overshadowed traditional issues culminating in what political strategists call a ‘dangerously communalized’ political landscape.
Both the major fronts—the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF)—are accusing each other of opportunistically aligning with communal entities, be it minority or majority, to secure an electoral advantage.
Statements by Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) K.M. Shaji and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) B. Gopalakrishnan, alongside allegations and counter allegations between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan revolves around a volatile communal theme.
This campaign reached an unprecedented height of religious and identity based campaigning with the controversial ‘Daughter of Qaumil’ campaign targeting Muslim Students Federation (MSF) leader Fathimath Thehliya which immediately generated a fresh round of attacks and counter attacks between the UDF and LDF. The controversy surrounded circulation of an audio clip where votes were allegedly being sought for a community candidate.
Although the LDF initiated the debate by attacking the UDF on communalism, the narrative quickly devolved into mutual exchange forcing both the fronts to defend their secular credentials against accusations of opportunistically engaging with communal rhetoric or entities. Several controversial statements have further fueled the polarization.
Former MLA Shaji delivered a widely criticized speech at the IUML’s Waqf Protection Rally on April 16, 2025 where he stated, “Religion is the problem, it is the problem of our identity.”
Shaji had made a similar speech five months before at the Dubai Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) conference declaring that the party’s goal was to form the government for the benefit of the Muslim community with the aim to obtain more representation in management schools.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) foresaw the UDF preparing a narrative portraying the Left Front as anti-religious minority and the Chief Minister as ‘anti-Muslim and another version of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’. It decided to counter this aggressive campaign, and the first major counter move came from former central committee member A.K. Balan.
Balan claimed that if the UDF came to power, the Jamaat-e-Islami would rule the Home Department, leading to a repeat of riots like Marad and creating an opportunity for the RSS to escalate communal violence.
Subsequently, the Left leaders, including the Chief Minister and Binoy Viswam, picked up Balan’s statement alleging that the UDF’s alliance with the Welfare Party, the political wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, was proof of its communal alignment. Vijayan stated that the Left would not do anything cheap for four votes.
Furthermore, CPM leaders alleged that Shaji was fielded from the stronghold of Vengara on the instructions of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a move political opponents quickly realized was based on the calculation that majority community votes would favour the Left Front.
Responding to the attacks, the Congress and the UDF raked up the allegation of a CPM-BJP deal and stated that the understanding between the CPM and Vijayan with majority communal forces had continued since the Lok Sabha elections.
In turn, the Left Front retorted that the deal was between the UDF and the BJP. The LDF also faced heat after the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the Popular Front, announced it would withdraw its Manjeswaram candidate in support of the Left Front.
Satheesan came out alleging that Vijayan had pandered to both majority and minority communalism at the same time. While the CPM state committee member and candidate from Nemom, V. Sivankutty stated he would not say no to the SDPI vote, senior leaders Vijayan and M.A. Baby avoided directly answering questions about SDPI support by stating that if voters decided to defeat the BJP, the Left could not say no to the vote.
The CPM leadership was not ready to publicly reject the SDPI’s political stance, which is creating a rift in minority votes prompting the Congress to counterattack by citing the past remarks made by the CPM leaders and the Chief Minister against the SDPI.
Even the BJP, which was initially maintaining a distance from communal campaigning to focus on propagating the development model of the Narendra Modi government, eventually jumped on to the communal bandwagon.
BJP candidate from Guruvayur, Gopalakrishnan made a remark asking why there were no Hindu MLAs in the constituency that housed the temple town of Guruvayur. This led to a complaint being filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) that his speech was inciting hatred.
Just as the direct communal accusations seemed to subside, the LDF’s controversial ‘Daughter of Qaumil’ campaign in Perambra reignited the debate.
Political strategists point out that the LDF and the UDF have historically received support from various community organizations and political parties representing the Muslim minority, with the Jamaat-e-Islami supporting the Left Front in both the 2011 and 2016 elections.
Similarly, in 2021 and its continuation into 2026, the Welfare Party, the political party of the Jamaat-e-Islami, supported the UDF. Election analysts question why the support of these groups becomes a major point of discussion only during the election season.
Former Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, Dr. G. Gopakumar assesses that all the fronts have come out openly talking about communalism this time. He pointed out that this will be an election where religion will influence outcomes more than caste.
He added that there are moves being made that are aimed at communal polarization with the UDF openly accepting the support of Jamaat-e-Islami and the Left Front leaders admitting they will accept the support of the SDPI.
Gopakumar suggested that the UDF will reap the fruits of this polarization while clarifying that minority communalism and the BJP’s communalism are distinct. However, he concluded that no party or front can win solely on communalism as anti-government sentiment is strong.
The LDF, whose campaign is based on the calculation that the majority community votes would favor the Left, is now facing the prospect of a large-scale division in the Hindu votes this time. This has led to an uncertainty whether these votes will go to the BJP or the UDF.
Meanwhile, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University, Dr. J. Prabhash attributes the current change in the Left Front’s alliance with communal forces as a reflection of its ‘main goal… to remain in power by any means’.
He evaluates this policy change by the Left which once stood for secularism as ‘extremely serious’ and a disruption in the country’s secular nature. While acknowledging that the UDF has historically adopted the same stance of promoting communalism for power and the BJP has always used majority communalism, Dr. Prabhash views the Left Front’s change in policy as a great tragedy.
The fact that the campaign is moving away from issues directly affecting the state and its people, and is being led by senior leaders, has surprised the common populace. It has made predictions about the poll result very difficult.
