KANNUR: This Marxist heartland in north Kerala has no dearth of martyrs’ columns or memorials—the ubiquitous AKG Mandirams in the red villages are part of its political history. Yet, Malabar’s CPI(M) citadel witnessed a disturbing act of demolition on last week: the ancestral house of Communist legend A K Gopalan (1904-77) at Peralassery was dismantled.
What’s more, the demolition man is a nephew of AKG. He won in the act after a demolition attempt last year failed following hue and cry from the public. ‘Gopala Vilasam’ was part of the he property inherited—the man needed to build a modern house. So quietly was the pull-down executed on Wednesday that it was near-complete before anybody could stop it.
Last year, CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan, as chief minister, had come up with a declaration that the government would take over the house. His then Cabinet colleagues, M A Baby and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, reiterated the decision after a visit to the house. All such assurances turned out to be hollow. On Wednesday, even as a five-member squad of workers brought down the structure, there weren’t many to shed tears.