KOCHI: The Congress’s decision to expel a local leader for blocking Chief Minister V D Satheesan’s convoy has brought back memories of a similar, albeit more intense, episode from the faction-ridden days of the party in Kerala, with former Union minister and veteran Congress leader K V Thomas drawing a sharp comparison between Satheesan and former chief minister K Karunakaran.
In a statement, Thomas recalled an incident in the late 1980s, when the Congress ‘Thiruthalvadis’ (reformists), led by Ramesh Chennithala, G Karthikeyan, and M A Shanavas, were locked in a bitter confrontation with Karunakaran.
Thomas said he was the Ernakulam DCC president and KPCC treasurer at the time. The DCC had organised an interfaith harmony meeting at Ernakulam Town Hall, which was attended by Karunakaran, Oommen Chandy and other senior Congress leaders.
However, according to Thomas, the reformist group deliberately sought to create trouble at the meeting and some of its workers, including then young Congress leader Ajay Tharayil, got into a confrontation with policemen who were in plain clothes.
“The altercation with the police forced the organisers to call off the meeting. The incident, which brought disrepute to both the party and the government, became a major news story,” Thomas recalled.
He then narrated what he described as Karunakaran’s “notable” response when the then police commissioner met Chief Minister Karunakaran and suggested registering cases against those responsible.
“They are our Congress workers, such things happen; there is no need for a case,” Thomas quoted Karunakaran as telling the police.
Thomas said he was reminded of that episode after police registered a case against senior Congress leaders, including former MP N Peethambara Kurup, in connection with the protest against Satheesan.
The former Congress minister questioned whether the police action was warranted when those involved were Congress workers protesting against the party’s own leader.
“V D Satheesan is not only the Chief Minister, but also a Congress leader. Isn’t Congress a democratic political party? Didn’t they stop the convoy of the leader of that political party? Should protesting workers be arrested by the police?” Thomas asked.
Without directly endorsing the manner in which the convoy was stopped, Thomas questioned the need for invoking criminal proceedings against party workers and wondered whether the Chenthi protest could be compared with the much more disruptive protests staged by the reformists during Karunakaran’s tenure.
His post comes after Thiruvananthapuram DCC leader Chenthi Anil (Anil Kumar) and his supporters stopped Satheesan’s convoy at Chenthi on Friday evening after the Chief Minister skipped a Sree Narayana Guru Jayanti programme organised there. Police arrested Anil and registered a case alleging wrongful restraint, intimidation and obstruction of official duties.
The Chief Minister’s Office, however, maintained that the Chenthi programme had never been part of Satheesan’s official schedule and that the organisers had been informed in advance.
The KPCC subsequently expelled Anil from the party’s primary membership, describing his conduct as unacceptable.
Thomas’s intervention thus places the latest disciplinary action against a Congress worker against an earlier era when internal rebellion and factional battles were far more intense - but, he argues, were handled by Karunakaran with a greater degree of political accommodation.