SNDP to launch political party in December

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, October 6, 2015: The SNDP Yogam proposes to launch its political party in December this year.

The announcement came from Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan after a meeting of the leaders of various communities, cultural leaders and political observers in Cherthala.

The general secretary apparently wants to wait and watch before rushing into formation of a political party. The coming elections to the local bodies in the State will be a litmus test for the Yogam on whether the proposed alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party would work out.

An earlier experiment of the Yogam in promoting a political party (Socialist Republican Party) was a failure despite its aligning with the United Democratic Front. Now, alliance with a party in power at the Centre could make a difference, but how far is to be seen. There is discord within the BJP about aligning with a caste based party as that could affect support from other castes.

Naturally, Mr. Natesan does not want his party to be casteist, though not necessarily in regard to principles of Sree Narayana Guru. He has announced that the party would be a secular party based on social justice. The party formation will take place at the end of a march (Samatwa Munnetta Yatra) to be taken out by the Yogam from Kasaragod to Trivandrum from November 23. The march is slated to conclude on December 5.

It is notable that political observers and commentators such as A. Jayasankar, N. M. Pearson, Philip M. Prasad, P. Rajan and Dr. Jayaprasad attended the meeting besides the son of Mr. Natesan Thushar Vellappally.