

KOCHI: Purogamana Kala Sahithya Sangham (PuKaSa), translated as Progressive Arts and Literary Organisation, is touted to be a cultural arm of the ruling CPM. On several occasions, they have come out with timely videos featuring celebrity artists to congratulate the achievements of the government.
However, some of the recent videos are doing more harm to the party than good and many party sympathisers have come out in the open against the ‘socially-disturbing’ themes that openly challenge secularist and progressive ideologies.
A recent one, uploaded by Ernakulam district committee of PuKaSa, had to be edited hours after it was published, thanks to the socially-conscious public that identified the underlying negativity. In the video starring Thesni Khan and Kalabhavan Rahman, released on Thursday, a Muslim mother discredits her own son who is a terrorist.
The video, written and directed by Babu Pallassery and coordinated by Pattanam Rasheed, had to be edited within hours after posting it on the Facebook page of PuKaSa state committee. Critics said the video portrayed Islamophobia explicitly.It is an irony that when the CPM tries to highlight the government’s pension scheme and food kits to the maximum ahead of the polls, two videos produced on those themes are creating maximum damage to the party.
In the second video, starring Santhosh Keezhattoor, a Brahmin thanthri of a temple praises the free food kit he got when he was jobless after the temple was closed during the pandemic. PuKaSa general secretary Asokan Charuvil told TNIE that he was not aware of the series of videos as they were produced by various district committees independently.