THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under fire from various corners for the Mega Thiruvathira that turned out to be a huge public relations disaster for the party, the CPM leadership has finally admitted to the faux pas. On Thursday, Thiruvananthapuram secretary Anavoor Nagappan said the ‘thiruvathirakali’ ahead of the district conference should have been postponed.
The state leadership is learnt to have conveyed its strong displeasure to the district leadership over the event organised at Parassala violating Covid norms. More than 500 women took part in the event held in the presence of senior leaders like Politburo member M A Baby.
The thiruvathira — organised by the Parassala area committee of the Democratic Women’s Association — was performed while the procession mourning the slain SFI activist, Dheeraj Rajendran, was moving to Kannur.
With the performance inviting criticism, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had on Wednesday remarked that it should have been avoided. Though unhappy, the party’s state leadership is unlikely to seek an official explanation from the district unit for the event and its inappropriate timing. Kodiyeri is learnt to have spoken to the district secretary.
Meanwhile, the lyrics for the ‘thiruvathira’ song — penned by Poovarini K V P Namboothiri — too drew flak from within party circles. At a time when the party has been harping on “no personality cult promotion”, the song chose to eulogise Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and extol his virtues. A section of party leaders felt that could easily have been avoided. The party had recently warned Kannur leader P Jayarajan for having promoted a personality cult.