THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a gesture loaded with far-fetched political ramifications, RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat’s offer to hold talks with the CPM to end the decades-old political vendetta between the two outfits in Kannur has been welcomed by CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan.
But,Pinarayi himself had spurned a similar overture from RSS to end the boodshed three years ago.
‘Express’ had reported in October, 2012, about the state RSS leadership’s in-principle approval for initiating efforts at holding talks with the CPM top brass to end the political strife.
Taking cue from this thawed approach towards the CPM, T G Mohandas, an RSS activist holding responsibilities in the Sangh’s publication division had even written an article its mouthpiece ‘Kesari’ in the first week of October 2012 , calling for exploring opportunities to set up a hot line between the two fronts as the victims of such killings largely belonged to the Hindu community. However, when the issue was taken up by the media, then CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was the first to rebuff the offer and rejected any possible amity with the RSS.
As Pinarayi tough posturing against conciliatory aborted the slim chance of even holding an informal talk, RSS leadership also disowned the article as the personal opinion of the author.
T G Mohandas told ‘Express’ that the crux of the article was that there was no rhyme or reason to hold such an animosity forever and on the contrary there was ground to forge an amicable relation. “Much water has flown under the bridge since 2012. Now, no one wants to sacrifice their lives for petty political enmity. I hope the saner elements in CPM would prevail and it would not be easy for them to spurn the RSS offer for talks this time. More importantly, the call for talk has been made by the RSS chief himself” Mohandas pointed out.
It was during Mohan Bhagwat’s visit to Kochi last week that he expressed the readiness to hold talks while answering a query of one of the judicial activist during an interaction.
However, RSS pranta karyavah P Gopalan Kutty Master said: “One and half months ago, Kannur Press Club office-bearers had come to us with the offer of facilitating a talk with CPM leadership. But till now we have not heard anything from their side. They may not have received positive signals from the CPM” he said.