Was Abin Varkey Denied Youth Congress Presidency Due to Caste Equations or Narrow Political Motives?

O J Janeesh, Abin Varkey
By Dan Kurian

Thiruvananthapuram: The Shafi Parambil faction of the Youth Congress, led by the General Secretary of Organization, is confident about bringing O J Janeesh to the state presidency of the Youth Congress, following the resignation of Rahul Mankootathil due to controversies surrounding allegations of misbehavior towards women. However, the ‘I’ group believes that narrow political motives are behind eliminating Abin Varkey’s chances by citing communal equations.

Since when did caste equations become a criterion for the Youth Congress president’s post…? This question has been echoing unanswered both inside and outside the party for days…

Let’s look back two decades.
From 2001 to 2004, K. Muralidharan served as the KPCC President. Subsequently, K. P. Anil Kumar held the position of Youth Congress President from 2002 to 2006, and P. C. Vishnunath was the KSU State President from 2002 to 2006. All these individuals belonged to the same community.

Later, from 2005 to 2014, Ramesh Chennithala served as the KPCC President. Following this, P. C. Vishnunath again became the Youth Congress State President from 2010 to 2013, with both leaders belonging to the same community.

During 2011-2016, Oommen Chandy was the Chief Minister. Advocate Dean Kuriakose served as the Youth Congress State President from 2013 to 2020, and V. S. Joy was the KSU State President from 2012 to 2017. All three also belonged to the same religious group.

The communal equation that was non-existent in these past instances is precisely what has emerged now, raising concerns.

If the new president was nominated to resolve disputes between groups, rather than making elections the criterion, questions arise as to why K. M. Abhijith, who is outside the committee, was not considered.

The ‘I’ group critically views the sidelining of Abin Varkey, who secured over 170,000 votes in the state committee election, coming in second place in the Youth Congress elections, as a subversion of merit. It is also worth recalling that a complaint regarding the votes secured by Rahul Mankootathil, who ranked first, went to court. At that time, O J Janeesh had only managed to garner 19,000 votes. Abin, despite his strong performance, did not get the opportunity.

With this development, the relevance of the state Youth Congress organizational election, personally initiated by Rahul Gandhi—who is currently undertaking a nationwide ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ against alleged vote rigging—and the significance of securing more votes in it, has been significantly undermined.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram.