THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: JUST before he took over the reins of Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had warned that ‘incarnations’ who claim affinity with him may appear on the horizon. When one takes a long hard look at the CPM camp and the developments in the party-controlled channel one cannot help wonder whether the CM’s words have turned out to be prophetic.
Fissures have started appearing in the cadre party for which the only cause of headache so far was the unpredictable tantrums of Comrade VS. Self-declared coteries have been the downfall of many a strong leader. When a group takes over the patronage and promotion of a leader it slowly alienates the leader from the masses and plain speaking well-wishers. The version of the coterie becomes the last word. Systems and process go for a toss.
A senior editor and another employee of the party controlled channel were suspended for having ‘links’ with a news website. Interestingly, the said site had given a series of news reports tarnishing the party and some of its leaders while trying hard to build a larger than life image of the CM.
Most notable were reports about former area secretary Zakir Hussain accused in many criminal cases and councillor Jayanthan allegedly involved in a case of gang rape.
The incident of gang rape, the leader’s identity and the victim’s attempt to get in touch with the Chief Minister were first given out by this site, which obviously raised a few eyebrows. The site also worked overtime to create an image that the current CM thinks above party politics and have initiated stringent action against the accused leaders.
All these, while party leaders were working overtime to defend the local chieftains. Ernakulam district secretary P Rajeeve said that all cases except one were slapped against Zakir Hussain for being part of political agitations. The party has also launched a parallel ‘investigation’ by Elamaram Kareem into the allegations.
Thrissur district secretary K Radhakrishnan invited the wrath of the party central leadership and women’s organisations when he divulged the name of the victim in an attempt to defend the councillor.
State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan came up with a lengthy article in the party mouthpiece justifying the party’s actions of intervening in disputes. A considerable length of this was spent to defend Zakir Hussain. Kodiyeri repeated Rajeeve’s version on cases against the ousted area secretary and alleged that he was included in the goonda list by the former government to malign CPM.
Ironically the state secretary’s justification came a day after Kerala Police filed a report saying Zakir Hussain is a rowdy! This was followed by another case on him. Another example of unbiased rule?
There are reports that a section of the party is unhappy with the way the party and some leaders are undermined to polish and project the image of the Chief Minister. The fingers point at some advisors of the CM.The same rumblings were heard when E P Jayarajan was dropped like a hot potato. They want to believe all this is without the knowledge of the CM. The allegation doing the rounds is that the ‘loyal than the king’ over enthusiasm of certain extra party elements to toe a ‘Pinarayi first’ line has led to the impasse.
They had taken it up with the party leadership and demanded that this unbridled run be curbed in the larger interests of the party which seems to have prompted the action against the channel duo. It remains to be seen whether this is the end of the story or the first of many episodes which could eclipse the clear and massive mandate of the people.