Dissent has surfaced within the party itself against Kerala CPI(M)’s alleged hypocrisy over the issues of harassment and victimisation of students at the private law Academy law College at Thiruvananthapuram by its management, said to be close to the Marxist leadership and the allotment of Government land to the Academy.

“It (the law college issue) is indeed a public issue and not just a student-college problem,” veteran Marxist and former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan told newsmen on Monday, thuspushing his own party, the CPI(M), which had taken the official position that it was strictly an issue between the students and the college management.

Achuthanandan even went a step further in his indirect attack against his party leadership by stating that if those who could control the management adopted a position of “surrendering to them”, such move was not going to succeed. Earlier, the CPI(M) leadership had allegedly asked its student outfit SFI to drop its demand for the removal of the principal, lakshmi Nair.

Criticizing the parties that had pledged support to the students’ agitation at the college, CPI(M)’s State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said the other day, “This is strictly a  students’ issue. Some forces are trying to politicize it.” Kodiyeri’s reference was mainly to the BJP whose national executive member V Muraleedharan was staging a protest fast in support of the stir.

Referring to the alleged irregularities at the college, Achuthanandan asked the lDF Government to take back the land allotted to the law Academy in the light of the reports that the management was using it for extra-academic purposes. The Government had given 11.49 acres of land to the college but it is reportedly using only less than three acres for academic purposes.

The former chief minister also sent a letter to Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan asking him to initiate steps to take back the Government land granted to the college half a century back. There are allegations that the college management, including the principal, had been using the Government land allotted to the college for commercial purposes.

In the letter, Achuthanandan asked the Minister to examine whether there were irregularities in the granting of land to the college management and to look into how that land was being used by it.  Achuthanandan sent the letter to the Minister just hours after he stated that he had not received any complaint about the allotment of land to the college management.

The former chief minister’s moves have come amidst allegations that the CPI(M) and the lDF Government it is heading are hand in glove with the law Academy’s director board whose members are close to the party. Allegations have also come up that the law Academy is providing legal help for Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the cases he is facing.

Critics point out that law Academy director Narayanan Nair’s brother Koliyakode Krishnan Nair is a former Marxist MlA and member of the CPI(M)’s State  committee. College principal and Narayanan Nair’s daughter lakshmi Nair is closely connected with CPI(M)-controlled Kairali TV on which she is presenting programmes.