The CPI(M) on Thursday rejected the demand of its lDF allies CPI and RSP for changing the style of the 140-day leftist stir in Thiruvananthapuram against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the infamous solar scam despite the intensifying protests against it from the common people who were holding that it was leading to denial of their right to free movement.
At a meeting of the lDF leadership in Thiruvananthapuram, the CPI(M) told its allies that it would be detrimental to the interests of the front to change the method of agitation at this stage. Instead, the Marxists proposed strengthening of the stir by making more people participate in it. The constituent parties agreed to the Big Brother’s proposal.
Along with this, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan publicly and categorically ruled out any change to the style of the agitation saying that it was only natural that “some people faced some difficulties” due to agitations. “What is relevant is the small inconvenience caused to some people but the slogan being raised by the agitators,” he said in Thiruvananthapuram.
The demand for bringing in changes to the leftist stirs had come up after a woman, Sandhya, openly protested on December 12 against the roadblock caused by the 140-day lDF “siege” to Cliff House, the official residence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, demanding his resignation over the solar scam in which he was accused of direct involvement.
Sandhya’s public expression of anger triggered further protests by the nearby residents’ associations following which the agitators and the police who had blocked the road to disallow the protesters to reach Cliff House were forced to open the road for the public. This had created an impression that the left’s agitation had failed.
At the same time, the agitators would get a two-day Christmas holiday on December 24 and 25. This lDF decision has given credence to the criticism that the “siege” to Cliff House was more of a political ritual for the Marxits and their allies than a committed struggle. The further course of the stir would be decided at a meeting of the lDF on December 29.
On Thursday, the left, mainly the CPI(M), intensified the roadblock stir by making over 2,000 women participate in it as an obvious reply to the protest by Sandhya, whom the Marxists had described as a Congress activist who had staged the protest “drama” as part of a conspiracy hatched in favour of the Chief Minister.
Asserting that the lDF would continue its stir demanding Chandy’s resignation over the solar scam, Pinarayi, who inaugurated the woman’s agitation, said, “We have seen several kinds of agitations. The society had earned most of the rights it enjoys today through such struggles… like those stirs, the lDF’s agitation over the solar scam also is just.”
Stating that Thursday’s agitation by women showed the validity of the leftist initiative, the CPI(M) secretary said that the “right wing” media were on a campaign against the lDF’s stirs. “They are trying to project all our agitations as failures. They should criticize the Government when it is refusing to fulfill the promises it made to end our strikes,” he said.
“If Pinarayi and company do not want to listen to the people’s voice it is well and good for them. But the fact is that these ego-troubled leaders are refusing to see the writing on the wall,” said a CPI(M) leader belonging to the anti-Pinarayi camp. “I can’t understand how communist leaders can become this defiant,” he added.
At a meeting of its State secretariat, leaders of the CPI had aired the opinion that the “siege” to Cliff House had already lost its focus and it had become a ritual as it was being carried out even on days when the Chief Minister was not there. They had also opined that the continuance of the stir would only lead to isolation of the people from the front.