THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has drawn flak from a section at the CPI state council for poor handling of the Sabarimala fiasco and for showing undue haste in implementing the SC verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the shrine. CPI state chief Kanam Rajendran said it is time for the party to offer its unconditional support to the government.
At a time when the state government has been trying hard to defend itself in the Sabarimala fiasco, the criticism by a section within CPI -the LDF ally in the Pinarayi cabinet- may not go down well with the Left Front. Criticism came up at the party council meeting that the Sabarimala issue has led to a clear divide in the society. A few of them felt instead of handling the issue as a United Left Front, the CPM handled it in a unilateral manner.
The government should have handled the situation with political tactics. Imposing prohibitory orders and deploying notorious police officers for duty should have been avoided. The statement by the State Police Chief on deploying women police personnel at Sabarimala, soon after the SC verdict came, led to opposition from the general public.
“Soon after the SC verdict, the government should have opted for a consensus and called for an all-party meet. The CPI and the party ministers in the Cabinet should have persuaded the government and LDF to take such a call. Now, the issue has created a polarisation within the society, which will be difficult to overcome,” said a source.
State secretary Kanam Rajendran declared the party’s complete support to the government on the issue in his report before the council. He said the party should stand with the government in such a scenario. The CPI state leadership defended the stance taken by the Left Government. At the council, criticisms were raised on CPI’s silence in the issue. Kanam said the Left Front has a declared stance favouring women’s entry to Sabarimala.
“Whenever there were issues where the government seems to be deviating from the Left Front’s declared stance, the CPI has intervened. As far as Sabarimala issue is concerned, there were certain lapses in implementation. However, the CPI cannot keep on coming up with a differing stance. It will lead to losing acceptance among the public,” Kanam said.