NSS pulls out of alliance with SNDP Yogam, cites political concerns

Kottayam: The proposed unity initiative between Kerala two HIndu community organisations Nair Service Society (NSS) and Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam has collapsed, with the NSS on Monday announcing its withdrawal from the move.

The NSS said the decision was taken at a meeting of its director board held at Perunna. A statement issued after the meeting, signed by NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair, said earlier attempts at unity between the two organisations had failed and a similar effort, in view of the present political situation, was unlikely to succeed.

“Due to various reasons, previous attempts at NSS–SNDP Yogam unity did not materialise. A similar move, considering the current political situation, is also unlikely to succeed,” the statement said.

The NSS represents the forward Nair community, while the SNDP Yogam is an organisation of the numerically strong Ezhava community. The statement noted that such unity was impractical, particularly as the NSS maintains an equal distance from all political parties. The SNDP on the other hand has of late been perceived as more inclined to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by The Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPIM), especially in the background of its leader Vellappally Natesan's strident criticism of the Muslim League, which the CPIM sees as its chief adversary after the Congress in the United Democratic Front (UDF).

The NSS clarified that it would continue to maintain cordial relations with the SNDP Yogam, as it does with other community organisations. “The board has decided that while friendly relations will continue, a formal unity move is not feasible at this time,” the release said.

Reacting to the development, SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan said he would have to study the NSS statement before commenting and declined to offer any immediate reaction.

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Earlier this month, both Natesan and G Sukumaran Nair had separately spoken to the media about the possibility of unity between the two organisations after they criticised Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan.

Meanwhile, Natesan was on Sunday named as a recipient of the Padma Bhushan award.

Explaining the decision, Nair told reporters that the NSS withdrew from the proposed unity move after suspecting political motives behind the initiative. He said Natesan had proposed sending his son, Tushar Vellapally, who is associated with the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), an NDA ally, to hold discussions on the unity move. This is said to have created more suspicion in the NSS leader's mind about the political motive behind the move.

“Their approach towards this unity move was suspicious,” Nair said.

He added that he was the one who placed the proposal to withdraw from the unity initiative before the NSS director board, which later endorsed the decision.

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PTI inputs with slight edits