The CPI(M) in Kerala, the last bastion of the Communist movement in India, is facing the biggest crisis in its history since the party was formed in 1964 when the CPI was split over the differences in the approach to China. V S Achuthanandan, 97, is the only surviving member of the 32 national council members of the party and launched the CPI(M).
But Achuthanandan, named as Kerala Castro by none other than party’s all India secretary Sitaram Yechury, is bed ridden and not in a position to speak. The general expectation in Kerala was that Achuthanandan would be appointed as chief minister after the massive electoral victory registered by the party in the 2016 election held to the assembly. But he was kicked upwards and was designated as administrative reforms commissioner of the State and Pinarayi Vijayan was elevated as chief minister. Achuthanandan is yet to recover from the shock of the party’s decision.
The CPI(M) was always considered as a party with a difference because of its uncompromising stance against communalism and corruption. The party impressed the voters of the State in the 1987 election when it chose to face the assembly polls in company of socialist-democratic-secularist forces. E M Sankarana Namboodirippadu, the then general secretary of the party was against the demand made by All India Muslim League, a faction of the Muslim League, for implementing the Sharia. He had lambasted the Congress for its decision to support the Muslim orthodoxy by subverting the Supreme Court verdict of the Shahbano case which ruled that a Muslim woman divorced by her husband was eligible for maintenance allowance.
But over the years, the CPI(M) compromised on all issues including its approach towards uniform civil code and Triple Talaq . The rot was set in much earlier but it came out in the open after Vijayan took over as the secretary of the party. Vijayan had his own favourites among business barons and they include the likes of Captain Krishnan Nair (Leela Hotels), Yusuf Ali and Ravi Pillai ( billionaires based in West Asia).
The party leaders was forewarned by none other than Kunhanandan Nair, one of the founders of the CPI(M) and an internationally acclaimed journalist.
Nair has explained how Veena, daughter of Pinarayi Vijayan, who failed to make it in the merit list in the all India engineering entrance examination in 2000 managed to get admission in Amritha University at Coimbatore through the intervention of Krishnan Nair and the blessings of Amrithanandamayi. “It was interesting to note that the SFI as well as the CPI(M) were waging a war against self-financing engineering colleges in Kerala and elsewhere. Vijayan had no qualms in asking for charity from Amrithanandamayi for his daughtrer’s admission to B Tech course,” writes Nair in his book “Things which are untold by hidden Cameras”.
He says Veena, Binoy and Bineesh (the last two are sons of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan) continued to get illegal patronage from business tycoons and barons. Balakrishnan has been eased out of the post of party secretary lst week for the role of Bineesh in money laundering and drug trafficking.
The youth who was held by the Enforcement Directorate has been remanded to judicial custody till November 18.
The arrest and detention come at a time when Kerala is getting ready to face the local body election scheduled for December 10.