KOZHIKODE: Mounting a scathing attack on the left intellectuals, Marxist intellectual P K Pokker said people like leftist writer and orator Sunil P Elayidam are ‘the new incarnation of those who want to push Kerala back to Sanatana Dharma’.
Pokker’s autobiography Erikkin Thee is a touching account of a Marxist who lives a secular life and yet is constantly being attacked for ‘smuggling in religious identity politics’ among the left in Kerala. The book narrates how insensitive a section of the CPM intellectuals and leaders in Kerala is to the predicament of the Muslims after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
According to the author, the demolition prompted many among the left to take a deep plunge into the power structure of the upper caste ideology. “Thus, the critique of upper caste Brahmanical ideology and the caste system became a part of the studies. Some progressive savarnas in Kerala were distressed with this,” Pokker said.
The author said that CPM leader P Rajeeve, who was the resident editor of Deshabhimani, was the first to write against his book on identity politics. "Rajeeve wrote that the CPM does not subscribe to my line of thinking. This led to people isolating me at the office and outside." (At that time Pokker was on a deputation as the director of Kerala Bhasha Institute.)
He said Rajeeve’s intervention resulted in turning all the upper caste forces and media to turn against him. “Rajeeve created an opportunity for the extreme right and the pseudo-progressives to attack my secular stand,” Pokker said.
Pokker, who is the state committee member of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangam (Pukasa), a pro-CPM organisation of artists and writers, said the organisation never publicly stated that his opinions were wrong. “But there was a widespread whisper campaign against me that led to discrimination at various places,” he wrote.
Many left-leaning writers argued that identity politics pursued by Pokker and K E N Kunahammad resulted in draining the class politics pursued by the Pukasa.
Pokker raised a serious allegation against Sunil P Elayidam that he brought in Islamophobia among the left using him and K E N as a tool. He alleges that Elayidam’s interventions have weakened the secular fabric of Kerala ‘by creating an impression that speaking about minority issues and opposing aggression would amount to Muslim appeasement.’
Pokker said Elayidam weaned the secular audience in Kerala to his home turf of Vedic tradition by revolving around Ramayana, Mahabharat and Gita. “After December, 2, 1992, secular thinkers like me were reading Gramsci but Elayidam was busy with interpreting Gita,” he said.
In the book, Pokker also recalls the ignominious experiences he underwent at Thunchan Trust, Basheer Chair at Calicut University and the Basha Institute.