It was five stones from a brook and a sling that David used to defeat Goliath. Sometimes the legend is turned on its head and Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who sustained minor injuries on his forehead and chest last week from stones pelted allegedly by CPI(M) workers is basking in popular sympathy which he desperately needs after the Solar Scam surfaced, suggesting his direct involvement.
However, his magnanimity in the face of injury—“I’m willing to forget and forgive”—has gone down well with the people, putting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on the backfoot. Chandy’s political generosity only made stark the CPI(M)’s legacy of violence and murder admitted by its senior apparatachiks, some of them who are in jail. The stoning occurred in Kannur, a CPI(M) stronghold last Sunday but its reverberations continue. Chandy was on his way to attend the valedictory function of the Kerala Police Athletic Meet. The glass panel of his car was shattered and some shards hit the Kerala CM’s forehead and his chest. Realising the fallout, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was quick to deny any involvement.
An injured Chandy had declined to be taken to a hospital immediately and walked straight to the dias. He cornered the Communists saying he was willing to let bygones be bygones if they shuns the politics of violence once and forever. “I would like to believe what Pinarayi Vijayan has stated. If his statement is sincere, then it marks a new beginning for the people of Kerala and the CPI(M) in particular. If Vijayan’s statement was just a cover, then he is mistaken,” he said.
After the function, the injured Chandy was flown to the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvanathapuram, where he was admitted for two days. This was a godsend chance for Pinarayi foe and CPI(M) maverick to visit Chandy in hospital. He had embarrassed the party earlier by visiting murdered Left leader Chandrasekharan’s family, whose killing put many CPI(M) members in prison. Though V S denied that the CPI(M) was behind the violence.
Vijayan used the usual ploy of blaming security lapses. The ruling UDF, however, did not retreat. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala said the CPI(M) cannot dodge the responsibility. UDF convenor P P Thankachan went one step ahead and said that CPI(M) cannot take the seriousness out of the issue. “They cannot rubbish the attack by terming it just as stone pelting,” said Thankachan, who said the CPI(M) planned the attack with an intention of creating ‘martyrs’ anticipating police retaliation.
Meanwhile the subtle antagonism between UDF allies also surfaced. Thankachan, a loyalist of the ‘I’ Group headed by Chennithala alleged that vital information about Chandy’s itinerary was leaked by a police officer, who is close to CPI (M) state secretary. However, the Home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who belongs to the rival ‘A’ Group in Congress that is loyal to Chandy, denied any security lapse and said that more than a 1,000 police personnel had been deployed for the CM’s security. Here again Chandy’s political genius as the ultimate forgiver came to the fore to paper developing cracks. “When I got the information that all the three gates leading to the venue had been blocked by CPI(M) workers I gave the instructions that no police action should be taken against them. So if anyone is responsible for the security lapses, then it is me,’’ he said.
Politicians are experts at turning disadvantages into opportunities but Chandy has seized an opportunity to save the government.