THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Seven years ago on December 9, the Left Front in the state found itself in an embarrassing position when a senior CPI leader openly paid his last respects to a slain Maoist leader killed in an alleged encounter with the state police. The killing of two Maoists in Nilambur during a combing operation, hardly six months after the first Pinarayi cabinet took over, was the first major challenge the Left front faced in the state. Seven years down the lane, the same leader heads the state CPI, the second biggest party in the ruling front.
With the killing of yet another Maoist in an alleged police encounter — the ninth under the Pinarayi regime — all eyes are on the newly-elected CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam. The CPI leadership, which has always been vocal in its opposition towards encounter killings, has however chosen to maintain a studied silence this time around, for the sake of Left unity.
The CPI knows that with Lok Sabha elections around the corner, any open criticism within the party or front, would not serve the best interests of the Left front. And there’s none in the CPI and the LDF, who knows this better than Binoy Viswam. “The CPI stance is clear. We are of the view that the Maoist issue should not be dealt with as a law and order issue. It’s a political matter that needs an absolute political solution. However, in the current political situation, the party doesn’t want to make it an issue within the front. Just a day after Binoy Viswam took over as state secretary, we would not want to make a statement that puts the government in trouble,” said a senior leader.
In 2016, when two Maoists were killed in Nilambur the CPI leadership led by Kanam Rajendran, had openly come out against the police, reminding the Pinarayi government that it is a deviation from Left principles. Binoy Viswam paid his last respects to Kuppusamy Devaraj, a central committee member of the Maoist outfit, with the permission of CPI leadership. He had told the media that bullets should not be used to counter an ideological war. CPM veteran V S Achuthanandan had also criticised the killings.
In another instance when three Maoists were killed in an alleged encounter in Attappadi, the CPI had sent a party commission, as a fact-finding commission which had come out with scathing remarks against the police.